Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Prempeh I International Airport (ICAO: DGSI), formerly Kumasi Airport, serves Kumasi, capital of Ghana's Ashanti Region, from a single long asphalt runway equipped with an ILS. It is a former Royal Air Force wartime base that has grown into Ghana's second busiest airport, now handling domestic services and offering a straightforward VFR or instrument arrival for visiting pilots.
Prempeh I International Airport, known for most of its history as Kumasi Airport, lies close to Kumasi, the capital of Ghana's Ashanti Region, and is operated by Ghana Airports Company Limited. It began life as a wartime military airfield and has since developed into the country's second busiest airport by passenger numbers, serving the middle belt and northern parts of Ghana. For a simulator pilot it offers an interesting single-runway ILS approach set against the backdrop of a historic Ashanti city, with a mix of military heritage and ongoing modernisation.
The airfield is situated at Kumasi, in the Ashanti Region of Ghana, roughly 6 kilometres from the city centre. It sits within Ghanaian airspace and is currently used for domestic air traffic, having previously held international status.
The airport has a single physical runway, 02/20, 6,516 feet long with a hard surface and runway lighting. The 20 threshold is equipped with an ILS, giving pilots an instrument approach in addition to visual circuits.
Aerodrome communications are provided on an air-to-ground voice frequency of 658.6 MHz, with a tower frequency of 118.1 MHz. A VOR/DME was commissioned alongside a new terminal building on 1 December 1993, supporting instrument navigation to the field, and the runway 20 approach is served by an ILS.
Approval for an airport at Kumasi was obtained from the British colonial government in 1940, though the land acquisition paperwork was not finalised and paid for until 1947; in the meantime the airfield had already been completed and was in use by 1943. It began as a military air base for the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War. In 1958 and 1959 the Government of Ghana carried out extensive development of the runway, navigational facilities and staffing to improve internal airline operations, and in the late 1970s runway and taxiway lighting was installed along with an extension of the main runway to the south of the airfield. On 1 December 1993 President Jerry John Rawlings commissioned a new terminal building together with the installation of a VOR/DME. The airfield was converted from a fully military base to a domestic civil airport in 1999, and in 2003 it was declared an international airport, primarily for regional operations, with security, customs and immigration staff in place, although upgrading of the physical infrastructure lagged behind this status. A phased expansion programme began in 2013: Phase 1, completed and commissioned in December 2014, rehabilitated the runway and installed airfield and ground lighting to enable night operations, marked by a historic first night landing by President John Dramani Mahama; an Instrument Landing System was installed ahead of this upgrade. Phase 2, costed at around 65 million euros and covering a new two-storey terminal and associated infrastructure, was decided in November 2016 with work beginning in 2018. A further phase extended the runway pavement from 1,981 metres to 2,320 metres, along with a new taxi link, additional apron parking stands, an air traffic control building and a fire station. In September 2024 the airport was renamed Prempeh I International Airport in honour of the Asante King Prempeh I, having previously been known as Kumasi Airport.
Prempeh I International Airport now handles substantial domestic traffic, having carried over 453,000 passengers in 2024, making it Ghana's second busiest airport after Accra. As of 2023 it was serving purely domestic air traffic, with scheduled flights operated by Africa World Airlines and Passion Air to destinations including Accra, and Ethiopian Airlines has previously served a since-suspended route to London Gatwick. The airport continues to undergo phased infrastructure upgrades, including runway, terminal and apron improvements.
