NLAFLSK

Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport

Ndola, Zambia · Africa

Africa Africa/Lusaka

9direct destinations

7airlines

1runway

3,500 mLongest runway

Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (IATA: NLA, ICAO: FLSK) is an international airport in Ndola, Copperbelt Province, Zambia. It was called Ndola Airport before being renamed in 2011 for Simon Kapwepwe, the nation's former vice president. It is adjacent to the Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site Memorial about fifteen kilometres (9.3 mi) west of the city centre. The original Ndola Airport in Itawa (opened in the 1950s) was built to serve the city of Ndola, the administrative capital of the Copperbelt Province. Since the relocated Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport opened in 2021 it serves the cities of Kitwe and Ndola in the Copperbelt. In late 2021 the Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport moved its operations to its present location adjacent to the Dag Hammarskjöld Memorial from its previous location in Ndola's Itawa suburb. This new airport was engineered by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC International) at a cost of $397 million. It was expected to be completed in Mid-2020 but was delayed by setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why it opened the following year.

Location

12.965°S, 28.516°E · 1.313 m s. n. m. (4.308 ft)

General data

CountryZambia

CityNdola

IATA codeNLA

ICAO codeFLSK

Coordinates12.965°S, 28.516°E

Elevation1.313 m s. n. m. (4.308 ft)

Time zoneAfrica/Lusaka

Runways1

Longest runway3,500 m

Direct destinations9

Runways · 1

09/27

Length3,500 m11,483 ft

Width45 m148 ft

SurfaceAsphalt

Lighted✓

Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.

History

Before August 2021, the Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport was at an old location, in the Itawa suburb of Ndola (south-east of the city centre). Ndola's airport in Itawa officially became a civilian airport in the 1950s after first being used as a military base. Previously, it was known as Ndola Airport and in September 2011, President Michael Sata decided to rename the airport in honour of Simon Kapwepwe, the nation's former vice-president. Initial plans indicated that the new airport would cost $522 million to build. Construction of the new airport began in 2017 and families staying at the site of the new airport were compensated. On 5 August 2021, Ndola's airport was officially moved from Itawa to a new address, 15 kilometres west of the city centre, just north of the Dag Hammarskjöld Crash Site Memorial, which is its current address. While under construction, the airport's current location was known as the Copperbelt International Airport until construction finished in August 2021, when it was commissioned by President Edgar Lungu. At that point, it was renamed Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport, the name of the original airport. The new airport also retained the same IATA code (NLA). The new airport was engineered by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC International) at a cost of $397 million. It was expected to be completed in Mid-2020 but was delayed by setbacks due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 5 August 2021, President Edgar Lungu commissioned the opening of the new airport, although it took about two more months for all operations to complete moving from the old airport to the new airport 15 kilometres west of the city centre. The airport started operations on 7 October 2021. As such, the old airport in the Itawa suburb is no-longer a commercial airport (no-longer named SMK International) and now belongs to the Zambian Air Force. On 30 July 2021, President Edgar Lungu gave the old airport location a name, Peter Zuze Air Force Base, named after Zambia's first indigenous air commander. Ndola remains having one commercial airport.

Airlines operating here · 7

Other airlines with direct routes

Proflight Zambia Ethiopian Airlines Air Tanzania Airlink Kenya Airways Mahogany Air Zambia Airways

Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).

Photo: Hansueli Krapf · CC BY-SA 3.0 · 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).

See all airports Search “Ndola”

Cite

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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026

APA

Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (NLA). Retrieved October 17, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NLA

MLA

“Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (NLA).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NLA. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (NLA).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NLA.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (NLA). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NLA (Accessed: 17 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_nla,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (NLA)}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-15},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NLA},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NLA}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-17},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-17}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/NLA |title=Simon Mwansa Kapwepwe International Airport (NLA) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-17 |language=en}}