Departure
96%
vs 95% ▲ 1
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
King Shaka International Airport (FALE) is the main gateway to Durban and KwaZulu-Natal, built at La Mercy to replace the constrained old Durban International Airport and opened in time for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It is a busy international and domestic hub with a single long paved runway equipped with ILS, making it straightforward to identify and fly into under IFR or VFR.
King Shaka International Airport serves Durban, South Africa, and is operated as a passenger facility by Airports Company South Africa with an associated cargo terminal run by Dube Tradeport Corporation. It is a hub for Airlink and a focus city for FlySafair, handling both scheduled international widebody services and domestic traffic across the country's 'Golden Triangle' of major airports. For a simulator pilot it offers a realistic mix of long-haul arrivals, regional turboprops and jets on a single long runway with full ILS.
The airport lies at La Mercy, KwaZulu-Natal, roughly 35 km north of Durban city centre, on South Africa's east coast. Arriving traffic is worked by Durban Approach on 125.75 MHz before being handed to the tower.
King Shaka has a single physical runway, 06/24, of 12,250 feet on a hard surface. It is lit and equipped with an ILS, and its considerable length allows it to accept the largest passenger aircraft, including the Airbus A380 and Boeing 747, even though scheduled widebody services are currently limited to types such as the Boeing 777-300ER.
Durban Approach is available on 125.75 MHz. The airport broadcasts its ATIS on 127 MHz, and King Shaka Tower operates on 121.65 MHz, with a further King Shaka International frequency on 118.45 MHz. The VOT TGV navaid transmits on 115.6 MHz, and the runway is served by an ILS.
King Shaka International Airport was conceived after it became clear that the previous Durban International Airport's 2,400 m runway was too short for large intercontinental aircraft such as the Boeing 747, a limitation that was marginalising Durban against Johannesburg and Cape Town. A 2007 study found upgrading the old airport would only delay, at greater eventual cost, the need to build a new one, and after political intervention and a contested tender process construction began on 24 August 2007 following approval of the environmental impact assessment, which had addressed access from the N2 motorway and the effect on a nearby colony of barn swallows. The airport was formally named after Zulu leader King Shaka following public hearings in late 2009, and opened to passengers on 1 May 2010, 41 days before the start of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, replacing Durban International Airport and inheriting its DUR IATA code. On 27 January 2014 a British Airways Airbus A380-841 became the first of its type to land at the airport, returning later that year for further pilot training flights. The airport forms part of the wider Dube TradePort development, which also includes cargo and trade-zone facilities alongside the airfield.
King Shaka International remains KwaZulu-Natal's principal airport, combining international and domestic operations under one integrated terminal. It supports scheduled widebody international flights, including services to the Middle East, alongside dense domestic traffic linking Durban with Johannesburg and Cape Town. The long, ILS-equipped runway and terminal infrastructure are capable of handling the largest current passenger aircraft, underlining the field's role as a major hub rather than a general aviation strip.
