Departure
96%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Amílcar Cabral International Airport lies on Sal Island in Cape Verde, close to the town of Espargos, and is the country's principal international gateway. It is a fully controlled aerodrome with a long ILS-equipped main runway, making it a straightforward and well-served destination for simulator pilots flying long-haul or island-hopping routes across the mid-Atlantic.
Amílcar Cabral International Airport, also known as Sal International Airport, is the main international airport of Cape Verde and the hub for Cabo Verde Airlines, with Cabo Verde Express also based there. It is operated under a long-term concession by Vinci Airports in partnership with ANA-Aeroportos de Portugal. The field is notable for having once been designated as one of NASA's contingency landing sites for the Space Shuttle after re-entry, and for decades of use as a refuelling stop on long-range routes linking Europe, the Americas and southern Africa, which gives it a rich history that adds interest for pilots tracing old flag-carrier routings in the simulator.
The airport sits on Sal Island in the Barlavento group of Cape Verde, about 2 kilometres west-southwest of the town of Espargos, at coordinates 16.7376N, 22.9500W and an elevation of 177 feet. It is a controlled aerodrome, with approach and tower services provided under Sal Approach and Sal Tower, so arriving and departing traffic operates within controlled airspace rather than an open FIR environment.
The airport has two physical runways. The main runway, 01/19, is a hard-surfaced, lit runway of 9863 feet in the 01 direction and 9862 feet in the 19 direction, and is equipped with an ILS on runway 01. A secondary runway, 07/25, is also hard-surfaced and lit, measuring 4917 feet in each direction.
Air-to-ground communication is available on 345.2 MHz. Approach control, callsign Sal Approach, operates on 126.4 MHz, with tower control on 119.7 MHz. An automated weather observing service (AWOS) broadcasts on 127.6 MHz. The main runway, 01, is served by an ILS for instrument approaches.
As a controlled aerodrome with dedicated approach and tower frequencies, traffic joining or departing Sal operates under instructions from Sal Approach on 126.4 MHz and Sal Tower on 119.7 MHz rather than following an uncontrolled visual circuit pattern.
The first airport on Sal was built in 1939 by Italy as a refuelling and provisioning stop on routes between Europe and South America, with the first flight arriving from Rome and Seville on 15 December 1939. Italian involvement ended with the Second World War, after which the Portuguese colonial government purchased the airport, completing its full operation by 1949. In 1950 Alitalia began DC-4 services routing through Sal between Rome, Buenos Aires and Caracas, and from 1960 to 1967 the field was a stop on the Voo da Amizade service linking Brazil and Portugal, initially operated by Panair do Brasil and later by TAP and Varig. Between 1963 and 1975 the Portuguese Air Force based its No. 1 Transit Airfield here, supporting military air links to Portugal's African provinces and maritime patrol operations. From 1967, South African Airways used Sal as a refuelling stop for European services during the era when apartheid-era sanctions barred it from most African airspace, with traffic peaking at around 36 weekly SAA flights in the mid-1980s before declining sharply after 1987; SAA's last flight through Sal was in 2006. Aeroflot and Cubana also routed Ilyushin Il-62 services through Sal to West and southern African destinations in the 1970s and 1980s. In 1985 TACV began Sal-Boston services using a DC-10 provided by LAM Mozambique Airlines, a route later shifted to Praia. The airport was also designated as one of NASA's contingency landing sites for the Space Shuttle after re-entry. Sal remained Cape Verde's only airport handling international flights until Praia's international service began in September 2005. From 2017 it served as a refuelling stop for the twice-weekly South Atlantic Air Bridge service between the United Kingdom and the Falkland Islands while Ascension Island's runway was repaired. In July 2023, Vinci Airports finalised a concession agreement to operate, fund and modernise seven Cape Verdean airports, including Sal, over a 40-year term, alongside its subsidiary ANA-Aeroportos de Portugal.
Amílcar Cabral International Airport continues to operate as Cape Verde's principal international gateway and the main hub for Cabo Verde Airlines, with Cabo Verde Express also based there. Since 2023 it has been operated under a Vinci Airports concession, which is responsible for the airport's funding, operation, maintenance and modernisation.
