Departure
98%
vs 95% ▲ 3
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Khartoum International Airport (HSSK/KRT) is the principal gateway to Sudan's capital, a joint civil-military field built around a single long hard-surface runway with ILS at both ends. Its history stretches back to a Royal Air Force training station of the Second World War, and its recent past has been dominated by closure and damage during the Sudanese civil war, with flights only gradually resuming from late 2025 onward.
Khartoum International Airport serves Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, and operates as a joint civil and military aerodrome. It has long been the hub for Badr Airlines, Sudan Airways and Tarco Aviation, and also hosts a Sudanese Air Force transport squadron and a Police Air Wing helicopter unit. For a simulator pilot the field is notable both for its origins as a Royal Air Force station and for its dramatic recent history, having been fought over and closed for extended periods during the civil war that began in 2023.
The airport lies at Khartoum, Sudan, at coordinates 15.5903N, 32.5531E, at an elevation of 1260 feet. It sits within the airspace controlled by Khartoum Approach and Khartoum Tower, and is a joint-use aerodrome shared by civil airline traffic and Sudanese Air Force transport and helicopter units. A much larger replacement facility, New Khartoum International Airport, is under construction in Omdurman some 40 kilometres south of the city centre, intended eventually to take over international traffic.
The airfield has a single physical runway, 18/36, of 9799 feet with a hard surface. It is lit and equipped with ILS on both approach directions, making it usable for instrument approaches in either sense.
Khartoum Approach operates on 124.7 MHz and Khartoum Tower on 119.2 MHz. An emergency frequency is available on 121.9 MHz, with fire and rescue coordination split between North Area on 125.4 MHz and South Area on 127.3 MHz. Both ends of runway 18/36 are served by ILS.
The airfield originated as the Royal Air Force station Gordon's Tree, later known locally as El Shajjara ('The Tree'). No. 223 Squadron RAF was based there by January 1940, and by January 1942 No. 71 Operational Training Unit RAF was operating from the field with Curtiss Tomahawks and Vickers Wellesleys, reportedly holding as many as 50 Harvards and 20 Hurricanes on strength at one point. Following Sudanese independence on 1 January 1956, the last RAF flying unit at Khartoum, No. 8 Squadron RAF, which had arrived in November 1953, departed in July 1956. The airport's ICAO code was changed from HSSS to HSSK on 4 March 2021. At the outbreak of the Sudanese civil war, Rapid Support Forces attacked the airport on 15 April 2023, firing on an arriving Saudia airliner without passenger or crew casualties, though two civilians were killed in separate incidents and around twenty aircraft were reported destroyed in the fighting. The RSF subsequently occupied the airport, which was closed to aviation and came under repeated attack from the Sudanese Armed Forces during the Battle of Khartoum, until the SAF regained control on 26 March 2025.
Following the end of RSF occupation, the airport reopened for domestic flights on 22 October 2025, when Badr Airlines resumed services between Port Sudan and Khartoum, and international flights resumed on 28 April 2026 with the arrival of a Kuwait Airways service. A further drone attack on 4 May 2026 caused a brief suspension, with Sudanese airspace and flights to Khartoum restored days later as Badr Airlines and Tarco Aviation resumed operations. The field remains a hub for Badr Airlines, Sudan Airways and Tarco Aviation, and continues to host a Sudanese Air Force transport squadron operating Antonov and Ilyushin types alongside VIP Falcon aircraft, together with a Police Air Wing flying Mil Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters. Given the ongoing conflict and the airport's recent history of closures and attacks, pilots should treat the operational picture as fluid and check current notices before planning any flight there.
