Khartoum International Airport (
IATA: KRT,
ICAO: HSSK) (
Arabic: مطار الخرطوم الدولي) is the principal airport in
Khartoum, the capital of
Sudan. The airport has been shut down since it was stormed and occupied on 15 April 2023 during the
Battle of Khartoum.[2]
The current airport is scheduled to be replaced by the
New Khartoum International Airport in
Omdourman 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of the centre of Khartoum. This is planned to have two 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) runways, a passenger terminal of 86,000 m2 (930,000 sq ft) and a 300-room international hotel.[3][4] Construction is to be carried out by
China Harbour Engineering Co. (CHEC).[5] On 4 March 2021, the airport's ICAO code was changed from HSSS to HSSK.[6]
The current airport originated as the
Royal Air Force airfield Gordon's Tree. By January 1940,
No. 223 Squadron RAF was located at Gordon's Tree, in the south of Khartoum.[7] Later the area became known as El Shajjara ("The Tree").[8] By January 1942, No. 71 Operational Training Unit (OTU) RAF was operating from the airfield; among aircraft operated were
Curtiss Tomahawks and
Vickers Wellesleys. Reportedly the OTU had at one stage 50 Harvards and 20 Hurricane fighters on strength.[9]
Sudanese independence was granted in January 1956. The last Royal Air Force flying unit reported at Khartoum was
No. 8 Squadron RAF, which arrived in November 1953, and stayed until July 1956.[10]
On 1 January 1942,
Vickers Wellesley Mark I L2660 of No. 71 Operational Training Unit RAF was written off, damaged beyond repair, on take-off from Gordon's Tree.[26]
On 27 August 1952,
Vickers Viscount G-AHRF operated by the
Ministry of Supply (United Kingdom) was damaged beyond economic repair when its starboard undercarriage collapsed on landing.[27]
On 19 July 1983,
Douglas C-47A N480F of
Chevron Oil crashed shortly after take-off from Khartoum International Airport on a non-scheduled passenger flight. Both engines had failed, probably due to contaminated fuel. All 27 people on board survived.[28]
Sudan Airways Flight 109: On 10 June 2008, an aircraft operating from
Amman,
Jordan, landed and went off the end of the runway. The right engine then caught fire and the fire spread rapidly. Preliminary reports stated that around 100 of the 200 passengers had been killed[29] but this was revised to 30 dead with 184 survivors.[30]
On 30 June 2008, an
Ilyushin Il-76 exploded into a fireball on take-off. All 4 crew were killed.[31]
^Hogg, Ryan (15 April 2023).
"Saudia Said Plane Involved in 'Accident' at Sudan's Khartoum Airport". businessinsider.com. Business Insider. Retrieved 17 April 2023. Saudia, formerly called Saudi Arabian Airlines, issued a statement saying one of its Airbus A330 jets was "involved in an accident" at the airport before a flight to Riyadh.... the other plane damaged in the shelling was a Ukraine-based SkyUp 737, operating on behalf of airline Sunwing.