RAIGVNP

Nelson Mandela International Airport

Praia, Cape Verde · Africa

Africa Atlantic/Cape_Verde IVCA 42.6

19direct destinations

11airlines

1runway

2,100 mLongest runway

1961opened

Francisco Mendes International Airport (IATA: RAI, ICAO: GVFM) was an airport located on Santiago Island in Cape Verde. It was opened in 1961. It was located about 2 km (1.2 mi) east of central Praia in the southeastern part of the island of Santiago. After Cape Verdean independence, the airport was named after Francisco Mendes, a Guinea-Bissau independence activist and that country's first Prime Minister.

Location

14.941°N, 23.485°O · 70 m s. n. m. (230 ft)

General data

CountryCape Verde

CityPraia

IATA codeRAI

ICAO codeGVNP

Coordinates14.941°N, 23.485°O

Elevation70 m s. n. m. (230 ft)

Time zoneAtlantic/Cape_Verde

Runways1

Longest runway2,100 m

OperatorAeroportos e Segurança Aérea

Opened1961

Direct destinations19

Its quality in the IVCA Ranking

Runways · 1

03/21

Length2,100 m6,890 ft

Width45 m148 ft

SurfaceAsphalt

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

Radio frequencies · 1

Tower

118.200PRAIA TWR · APP

Look for a live feed on LiveATC External site; not every airport has a feed.

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 They may be outdated or incomplete and do not replace the AIP or current charts: not for navigation.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

On 28 September 1998, a TACV de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter (registered D4-CAX) carrying Carlos Veiga, then Prime Minister of Cape Verde, 18 other passengers and three crew members crash-landed at the airport. There was one fatality (a bodyguard of the prime minister) and four people were injured.

In late 2005, the airport was deactivated, and replaced by the new Praia International Airport (since 2012 Nelson Mandela International Airport).

Airlines operating here · 11

Other airlines with direct routes

Cabo Verde Airlines Transavia France easyJet TAP Air Portugal Transavia Asky Airlines Azores Airlines Edelweiss Air Luxair Royal Air Maroc TAAG Angola Airlines

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

Photo: Xandu · Public domain · 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 “Praia”

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). Nelson Mandela International Airport (RAI). Retrieved October 18, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RAI

MLA

“Nelson Mandela International Airport (RAI).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RAI. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Chicago

Vuelopedia. “Nelson Mandela International Airport (RAI).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RAI.

Harvard

Vuelopedia (2026) Nelson Mandela International Airport (RAI). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RAI (Accessed: 18 October 2026).

BibTeX

@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_rai,
  author       = {{Vuelopedia}},
  title        = {{Nelson Mandela International Airport (RAI)}},
  publisher    = {Fundación Poderia},
  year         = {2026},
  date         = {2026-10-15},
  url          = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RAI},
  howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RAI}},
  urldate      = {2026-10-18},
  note         = {Accessed 2026-10-18}
}

Wikipedia

{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/RAI |title=Nelson Mandela International Airport (RAI) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-18 |language=en}}