Matsapha Airport is an airport located near
Manzini Manzini may refer to:
*Manzini, Eswatini, a town in the Manzini Region of Eswatini
*Manzini Region, a region of Eswatini
*Manzini (surname), an Italian surname
See also
*Roman Catholic Diocese of Manzini
The Diocese of Manzini ( la, Manzinien(si ...
, a city in
Manzini District
Manzini is a region of Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland), located in the center-west of the country. It has an area of 4,093.59 km² and a population of 355,945 (2017). Its administrative center is Manzini. It borders all three other r ...
of
Eswatini. It serves flights of the
Eswatini Government and mercy flights.
History
Although a new airport for Manzini,
King Mswati III International Airport
King Mswati III International Airport , initially named Sikhuphe International Airport in the planning and construction phase, is an airport in Eswatini. It replaced Matsapha Airport as the only international airport in Eswatini accepting commer ...
, was inaugurated in March 2014,
Airlink
Airlink is an airline based in Johannesburg, South Africa. Its main business is to provide services between smaller, under-served towns and larger hub airports. It has since expanded to offer flights on larger, mainline routes. The airline h ...
chose to continue flying to Mastapha. However, the Eswatini Civil Aviation Authority (ESWACAA) required the airline to end flights to Matsapha on 29 September 2014 and switch to King Mswati III Airport the following day.
The Matsapha Airport was still planned to be used by the royal family and the army. The airport recorded 70,000 passengers yearly until it closed. All the commercial flights had one destination, the
O. R. Tambo International Airport in
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
. The plan to replace the Matsapha Airport was announced in 2000 by
King Mswati
Mswati III (born Makhosetive; 19 April 1968) is the king (Swazi: Ngwenyama, Ingwenyama yemaSwati) of Eswatini and head of the Swazi royal family. He was born in Manzini in the Protectorate of Swaziland to King Sobhuza II and one of his younger w ...
.
Facilities
The airport is at an elevation of above
mean sea level
There are several kinds of mean in mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. ...
, the runway elevation is . It has one
runway
According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...
designated 07/25 with an
asphalt
Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...
surface measuring .
See also
*
List of airports in Eswatini
This is a list of airports in Eswatini, sorted by location.
Eswatini is a landlocked country in southern Africa, bordered to the north, south and west by South Africa, and to the east by Mozambique. The nation, as well as its people, are named ...
*
Transport in Eswatini
References
External links
Everything about Matsapha/Manzini International Airport– History, recent statistics, airlines, planespotting, parking and car rental
*
*
Airports in Eswatini
{{Eswatini-airport-stub