Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Murtala Muhammed International Airport (DNMM/LOS) is Nigeria's principal international gateway, serving Lagos from its site at Ikeja, Lagos State. It offers two long parallel hard-surface runways, full radar and tower services, and an ILS approach, making it a major destination for airliners and a useful high-capacity training reference for simulator pilots flying into West Africa.
Murtala Muhammed International Airport, known by its IATA code LOS and ICAO code DNMM, is the principal international airport serving Lagos and the whole of Lagos State, Nigeria. Located at Ikeja, it is operated by the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and is the main base for Air Peace, Nigeria's largest airline, along with several other Nigerian carriers. For a simulator pilot, it is an interesting destination thanks to its long dual runway system, busy mixed international and domestic traffic, and a history stretching back to the Second World War.
The airport sits at Ikeja, within the Lagos metropolitan area, roughly a kilometre from the site of the former domestic terminal, itself once known as Ikeja Airport. It lies within Nigerian controlled airspace served by approach control, and the field is positioned at coordinates 6.5786N, 3.3225E at an elevation of 82 feet.
The airport has two parallel physical runways aligned 18/36. The main runway, 18R/36L, is 12,826 feet long with a hard surface, lit, and equipped with an ILS. The second runway, 18L/36R, is 9,355 feet long, also hard-surfaced and lit, and offers an ILS on the 18L direction.
Radio services include Lagos West AFIS on 120.9 MHz and Lagos East AFIS on 127.3 MHz, together with Approach on 124.3 MHz, ATIS on 123.8 MHz, and Tower on 118.1 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 18R, and an ILS approach is also provided for 18L.
The airport was originally built during the Second World War and initially known simply as Lagos Airport. In 1947 the West African Airways Corporation (WAAC) was formed and based its main fleet at Ikeja, initially operating De Havilland Doves before adding larger Douglas Dakotas from 1957. The airport was renamed in 1976 in honour of Murtala Muhammed, Nigeria's fourth head of state, following his assassination in a failed coup. A new international terminal, modelled on Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, was built through the 1970s and officially opened on 15 March 1979 as part of a master plan intended to provide capacity through to the year 2000. The domestic terminal, formerly the old Ikeja Airport, saw domestic operations relocated there before a fire in 2000 prompted a further move; a new privately funded domestic terminal, MMA2, was commissioned on 7 April 2007. During the late 1980s and 1990s the airport had a reputation for poor security, leading the US Federal Aviation Administration to post warnings at American airports and, in 1993, to suspend air services between Lagos and the United States, affecting Nigeria Airways and American Trans Air. Following the 1999 democratic transition, security improved markedly, including a stricter policing regime around runways and taxiways, and the FAA lifted its suspension in 2001. By 2010 the FAA had granted the airport its highest safety rating, and passenger numbers that year reached 6,273,545. In 2012, the Nigerian government approved a loan from the Exim Bank of China to fund construction of new international terminal facilities, with work beginning in late 2013.
Murtala Muhammed International Airport today operates as a large international hub with both an international terminal and the separate domestic MMA2 terminal, roughly a kilometre apart, sharing the same runway system. It serves as the home base for several Nigerian carriers including Air Peace, Aero Contractors, Arik Air, Azman Air, Rano Air, Ibom Air and ValueJet, and has attracted renewed international interest from carriers such as Emirates, Delta and China Southern Airlines following bilateral agreements. The airport is customs-designated for international arrivals and departures.
