Chileka International Airport (IATA: BLZ, ICAO: FWCL) is an international airport in Malawi. It is located approximately 13 km (7 nmi; 8 mi), by road, northwest of Blantyre, the second largest city in the Republic of Malawi and the country's commercial and financial capital.[3] Chileka is Malawi's second international airport, the other being Kamuzu International Airport, in Lilongwe, the nation's capital city.[4]
Facilities
The airport's geographical coordinates are:15°40'52.0"S, 34°58'18.0"E (Latitude:-15.681111; Longitude:34.971667).[5] The airport is at an elevation of 2,555 feet (779 m) above mean sea level.[6]
The airport has two asphalt paved runways: 10/28 measures 2,325 by 30 metres (7,628 ft × 98 ft) and 15/33 measures 1,372 m × 30 m (4,501 ft × 98 ft).[1]
Renovations
In April 2019 scheduled renovations and extensions to the main runway were commenced, resulting in the temporary closure of runway 10/28. The renovations were initially scheduled to last for three months, with operations expected to resume in July 2019. However, several delays caused the project to take longer than anticipated, and the reopening date was pushed back at least three times.[7]
The airport continued to be operational during this time, handling arrivals and departures of smaller aircraft on runway 15/33. During the closure, all arrivals and departures on medium range and larger aircraft operated from Kamuzu International Airport, with onward transfers to and from Chileka International Airport, on smaller aircraft.[8]
The renovation works were finally completed in December 2019, and normal operations with both runways were resumed on 1 January 2020.[3][9]
