N'djili International Airport (), also known as Kinshasa International Airport, is the principal international airport serving Kinshasa. Named after the nearby Ndjili River, it is located in the commune of Nsele on the edge of the Pool Malebo, about 20 kilometers east of the city, to which it is connected by Lumumba Boulevard. The airport is bordered by the communes of Nsele, Masina, and Kimbanseke, with nearby quartiers including Mikonga, Talangayi, Bibua, Menkao, Kinkole, and Kingasani. Operated by the state-owned Régie des Voies Aériennes (RVA), it is the busiest airport in the country by both passenger traffic and aircraft movements.
Construction began in 1953, and the airport was inaugurated in 1959, replacing Ndolo Airport as the city's principal commercial airport. When it opened in 1959, its 4,700 m runway was among the longest in the world, and during the Second Republic, the airport became the country's principal international gateway. Since the early 21st century, N'djili has undergone modernization, including reconstruction of its main runway, which was shortened from 4,700 to about 3,300 m (15,420 to about 10,830 ft).
History
1953–1959: Colonial planning and construction N'djili International Airport was constructed during the Belgian colonial period in the early 1950s, when the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo was known as the Belgian Congo and its capital was Léopoldville (now Kinshasa). Construction officially began in 1953, with the airport designed by Belgian architect Léon Marcel Chapeaux, who also contributed to airport projects in Brussels and Kuala Lumpur. Costing approximately US$17 million, the complex was linked to Léopoldville by a four-lane highway named after King Leopold III (now Boulevard Lumumba), which also served as the principal route to eastern Congo. The airport was also intended to symbolize Belgium's achievements in its African colony.
The site was chosen on a sandy plateau about 20 km east of Léopoldville and parallel to the Congo River. Its natural topography required little earthmoving, while streams on either side provided effective drainage. Additional land to the south was reserved for future residential expansion. During construction in 1955–56, residents of a Teke-Humbu village were relocated to Mikonga in Nsele to make way for the airport. Planners also planned to close Ndolo Airport and extend Boulevard Lumumba into the city centre. The N'djili airport officially opened in February 1959 in the Nsele commune, with the Nd'jili commune lying just about five kilometers to the west along Boulevard Lumumba. This administrative anomaly arose because the surrounding unincorporated area was then known as the "Territoire Suburbain de Ndjili". After Nsele was established in 1967 as a commune, it sought jurisdiction over the airport, but the facility remained administratively attached to N'djili commune until 1982. At the time of its inauguration, the airport's main runway measured 4,700 meters (15,420 feet), which ranked among the world's longest at the time and was capable of accommodating the largest aircraft then in service, with operations possible from the runway's central section.
1960–1965: Independence and the Congo Crisis
After its opening, N'djili became the principal hub of the Belgian national airline Sabena, and served as the main arrival point for foreign delegations attending the Congolese independence celebrations in June 1960. On 29 June, King Baudouin arrived at the airport, where he was received by President-designate Joseph Kasavubu and Prime Minister-designate Patrice Lumumba. Delegations from around the world also arrived by air, including a Soviet mission seeking to establish diplomatic relations with the newly independent state. N'djili played a significant operational role during the early stages of the Congo Crisis. Following the mutiny of the Force Publique, thousands of expatriates fled the country. Sabena suspended its regular international services and organized a large-scale evacuation, airlifting approximately 25,000 people between 9 and 28 July 1960. When Force Publique attempted to take control of the airport, Belgian paratroopers intervened, which led to fighting inside the airport's terminal. Soon afterward, the United Nations began deploying peacekeeping forces through N'djili, with the first 700 Ghanaian troops arriving on 15 July aboard British aircraft, followed by successive United States Air Force C-130 Hercules flights carrying Tunisian soldiers. Belgian forces withdrew from the airport on 21 July after the arrival of UN contingents.
The United Nations initially based its air operations at Ndolo Airport, where a contingent of 40 Swedish Air Force pilots and mechanics operated aircraft using equipment and spare parts left behind by the Belgians. By September 1960, however, security concerns prompted the transfer of the Indian and Italian C-119 Flying Boxcar squadron to the N'djili airport, while overall UN air operations were coordinated from the large Kamina Air Base in Katanga. N'djili itself featured two large hangars situated approximately one kilometer on either side of the passenger terminal. The western hangar remained in civilian use, whereas the eastern hangar was occupied by the United States Congo Military Mission (COMISH). Prime Minister Lumumba became increasingly frustrated by restrictions on domestic travel. He initially relied on the governor-general's Force Publique de Havilland Heron aircraft, but it was transferred to Kamina along with other Belgian-controlled aircraft, many of which later formed the nucleus of the Katangese Air Force. In August 1960, the Soviet Union supplied Lumumba's government with an Ilyushin Il-14 executive aircraft, followed later that month by twelve additional Il-14 transport aircraft to support military operations against the secession of South Kasai. The first of these transports arrived at N'djili on 2 September, but four days later the United Nations closed all airports in the Congo, which effectively prevented Lumumba from using the aircraft.
Ndolo Airport continued to serve as the city's general aviation airport, and, after the relocation of Force Publique aviation to N'djili in 1955, three pilots established the airline Air Brousse in response to Sabena's monopoly and comparatively high airfares. By the eve of independence, Air Brousse operated a fleet of four de Havilland Dragon Rapide biplanes and four Piper Tri-Pacers. One of the airline's Dragon Rapides was chartered by the Congolese government in January 1961 to transport Lumumba from Thysville (now Mbanza-Ngungu) to Moanda, circumventing UN flight restrictions before his transfer to Katanga, where he was subsequently assassinated.
In January 1961, the Congolese government and Sabena agreed to establish a national airline, Air Congo, which officially began operations in June of that year. Under the ownership arrangement, the Congolese government held a 65% stake, Sabena retained 30% and managed the airline, while Air Brousse and the Belgian charter carrier Sobelair shared the remaining interest. On international services, the airline's Boeing 707 aircraft carried the "Air Congo" name on the fuselage while retaining Sabena's distinctive white "S" on the empennage.
Following the secession of Katanga and the loss of the former Force Publique aircraft, the Congolese government established its first air force unit at Ndolo Airport in January 1962. Its initial fleet consisted of a Douglas DC-4 and three Douglas DC-3 aircraft acquired from France. The unit was formally inaugurated in a ceremony attended by Joseph-Désiré Mobutu, Prime Minister Cyrille Adoula, the United States ambassador, and American and British military attachés. A pilot training school was also established, although Western governments remained concerned about the country's limited air capabilities.
After a proposal to rebuild the Congolese National Army (Armée nationale congolaise; ANC) with NATO technical assistance was blocked by the United Nations, the Central Intelligence Agency organized an interim air force staffed primarily by anti-Fidel Castro Cuban pilots, many of whom had participated in the Bay of Pigs invasion. By November 1962, the first six Cuban pilots, recruited through Caribbean Aeromarine, had arrived to operate U.S.-supplied North American T-6 Texan trainers. These aircraft were later employed in support of Congolese army operations against insurgents in Kwilu Province during early 1964. At the same time, Italy assisted in training the Congolese Air Force (Force Aérienne Congolaise; FAC). As rebel forces advanced toward Léopoldville in 1964, the government established the Centre d'Entraînement des Troupes Aéroportées (CETA), a paratroop training center at the N'djili airport operated with Israeli assistance in August. The base was intended to train airborne troops and to defend the airport and the eastern approaches to the capital. Maintenance and operational support for the FAC was contracted to the Western International Ground Maintenance Organization (WIGMO), a Liechtenstein-registered company that functioned as a CIA front. WIGMO employed foreign mercenary pilots and ground crews and shared the military facilities at N'djili with the COMISH.
In November 1964, the N'djili airport received aircraft transporting hostages rescued during Operation Dragon Rouge in Stanleyville and northeastern Congo. United States Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft, which had carried Belgian paratroopers into Stanleyville, subsequently returned with numerous evacuated civilians. Despite the airport's normally strict security measures, public access to the apron was unusually permitted during the operation. In August 1965, a civil aviation training institute was established at Ndolo Airport under United Nations sponsorship. The institution later evolved into the Institut Supérieur des Techniques Appliquées (ISTA).
1966–2003: Expansion under Mobutu, wars and decline In January 1966, N'djili became the hub of another major international airlift when Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence "cut off Zambia's fuel supplies". The United States chartered Pan American World Airways and Trans World Airlines to operate Boeing 707 flights to Lubumbashi through N'djili, while Canada contributed Canadair Yukon transport aircraft. Fuel transported by air was then moved overland to Zambia, with the operation expected to deliver approximately 6,000 tons during January and February 1966.
Under Ordinance-Law No. 66/415 of 13 July 1966, the Congolese government transferred several Sabena-owned buildings in Kinshasa, most of them located along Boulevard du 30 Juin in Gombe, to state ownership. According to the ordinance, the measure responded to Belgium's refusal to transfer properties in Belgium belonging to the Congolese public transport company Office d'Exploitation des Transports au Congo (OTRACO).Democratic Republic of the Congo. Moniteur Congolais. No. 8, Government of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, 15 April 1968, pp. 777–778. PDF. The ordinance presented the transfer of Sabena's properties as compensation for the disputed OTRACO assets. The Congolese state retained ownership of the buildings, while their management and administration were entrusted to OTRACO.