King Phalo Airport
King Phalo Airport
King Phalo Airport (IATA: ELS, ICAO: FAEL) (Afrikaans: Koning Phalo Lughawe; formerly East London Airport (Afrikaans: Oos-Londen Lughawe) until 23 February 2021) is an airport serving East London, a city in the Eastern Cape province on the southeast coast of South Africa. The airport handles between 20 and 30 flights daily. In 2016, King Phalo Airport was voted the fastest growing airport in South Africa, having accomplished an almost 19% increase in traffic over a 12-month-period.
Location
33.036°S, 27.826°E · 133 m s. n. m. (435 ft)
General data
Runways · 2
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 4
Tower
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
Apron
Reference frequencies for enthusiasts, from OurAirports (community database, public domain), checked on Oct 16, 2026. They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation. In Europe the published frequency may be an 8.33 kHz channel (e.g., 118.505 for 118.500). In MHz.
History
The airport had an inauspicious beginning in 1927, when Lieut Colonel Alistair Miller asked the East London town council to help establish a municipal aerodrome at Woodbrook, west of the city.
Passenger flights were undertaken by two de Havilland Moth planes on Saturday afternoons and all day on Sundays, weather permitting. Flights could also be booked for weekdays, but only by special arrangement. In 1931, it took 11 hours to fly from Windhoek in Namibia to King Phalo Airport.
In 1944 a new airport was built at Collondale, about 2 km west of the present terminal building.
In 1965 the airport was again moved, this time to its present site - 9 km west of the city centre. Construction of the terminal buildings finished in 1966, and the airport was named after Ben Schoeman - the minister of transport at the time.
The airport was renamed in 1994 to East London Airport. Since then, major alterations to the terminal building have been completed and a new first-floor office development for the airport management team has been added. On 23 February 2021, the airport was renamed to King Phalo Airport.
In 2024, there were frequent disruptions to this and other regional airports caused by failings at Air Traffic Navigation Services (ATNS).
Airlines operating here · 3
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: Danie van der Merwe from Cape Town, South Africa · CC BY 2.0 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
To cite this page in academic work, an article or Wikipedia, choose the style and copy the reference. The access date is today.
This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). King Phalo Airport (ELS). Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/ELS
MLA
“King Phalo Airport (ELS).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/ELS. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “King Phalo Airport (ELS).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/ELS.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) King Phalo Airport (ELS). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/ELS (Accessed: 17 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_els,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{King Phalo Airport (ELS)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/ELS},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/ELS}},
urldate = {2026-10-17},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-17}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/ELS |title=King Phalo Airport (ELS) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-17 |language=en}}