Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport
Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport
Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (Hausa: Filin Jirgin Saman Mallami Aminu Kano, IATA: KAN, ICAO: DNKN) is an international airport serving Kano, the capital city of Kano State in Nigeria. It was a Royal Air Force station before the country became independent. It is the main airport serving northern Nigeria and was named after the 20th-century politician Aminu Kano. The airport has an international and a domestic terminal. Construction started on a new domestic terminal and was commissioned on 23 May 2011. In 2009, the airport handled 323,482 passengers. The bulk of international flights cater to the large Sudanese community in Kano and Muslim pilgrimages to Mecca.
Location
12.046°N, 8.524°E · 476 m s. n. m. (1.562 ft)
General data
Runways · 2
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 3
Tower
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
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 They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation.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
Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport is the oldest in Nigeria, with operations starting in 1936. In the first decades of operation, it became an important fuel stop for airlines flying long-haul services between Europe and Africa. Newer aircraft did not need such fuel stops and, with the demise of the Kano economy in the late 20th century, many international airlines stopped serving the airport. When they indefinitely suspended services to Kano in June 2012, KLM was the only European airline serving the city, which they had done without interruption since 1947.
Airlines operating here · 12
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: Solasly · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 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). Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (KAN). Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KAN
MLA
“Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (KAN).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KAN. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (KAN).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KAN.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (KAN). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KAN (Accessed: 17 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_kan,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (KAN)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KAN},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KAN}},
urldate = {2026-10-17},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-17}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/KAN |title=Mallam Aminu Kano International Airport (KAN) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-17 |language=en}}