# King Phalo Airport (ELS / FAEL)

**King Phalo Airport** (IATA: ELS, ICAO: FAEL) is a large airport in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It opened in 1944. It has 2 runways; the longest is 1,939 m (6,362 ft). It is operated by Airports Company South Africa. In 2012 it handled 663 thousand passengers.

Web page: https://dromopedia.com/airports/fael

## At a glance

- IATA / ICAO: ELS / FAEL
- Type: Large airport
- Operator: Airports Company South Africa
- Serves: East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Opened: 1944 (Wikipedia)
- Elevation: 133 m / 435 ft
- Coordinates: -33.0356, 27.8259
- Runways: 2
- Longest runway: 1,939 m / 6,362 ft
- Passengers: 663,139 (2012)
- Time zone: UTC+2 · Africa/Johannesburg
- Website: http://www.airports.co.za/airports/east-london
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Phalo_Airport (12 languages)
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3496971
- Weather station: FAEL · WMO 68858
- Ident: FAEL

## Timeline

- 1944: King Phalo Airport opens.

## Runways

| Ident | Length | Width | Surface | True headings | Lighted |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 11/29 | 1,939 m / 6,362 ft | 46 m / 150 ft | Asphalt | 082° / 262° | yes |
| 06/24 | 1,585 m / 5,200 ft | 46 m / 150 ft | Asphalt | 037° / 217° | yes |

## Passengers per year

| Year | Passengers | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2011 | 681,695 | Wikidata |
| 2012 | 663,139 | Wikidata |

## Routes

4 destinations in 1 country. From the airport's Wikipedia article.

### Year-round (4)

- [DUR](https://dromopedia.com/airports/fale.md) King Shaka International Airport · South Africa · 492 km / 306 mi · FlySafair
- [JNB](https://dromopedia.com/airports/faor.md) O.R. Tambo International Airport · South Africa · 768 km / 477 mi · FlySafair, CemAir, Airlink
- [HLA](https://dromopedia.com/airports/fala.md) Lanseria International Airport · South Africa · 789 km / 490 mi · FlySafair
- [CPT](https://dromopedia.com/airports/fact.md) Cape Town International Airport · South Africa · 861 km / 535 mi · FlySafair, CemAir

### Cargo (1)

- [JNB](https://dromopedia.com/airports/faor.md) O.R. Tambo International Airport · South Africa · 768 km / 477 mi · BidAir Cargo

## Airlines

The figure is how many destinations each airline flies from ELS, as the routes above have them. Hubs from Wikidata.

### Passenger (3)

- FA [FlySafair](https://dromopedia.com/airlines/flysafair) · 4
- 5Z [CemAir](https://dromopedia.com/airlines/cemair) · 2
- 4Z [Airlink](https://dromopedia.com/airlines/airlink) · 1

### Cargo (1)

- [BidAir Cargo](https://dromopedia.com/airlines/bidair-cargo) · 1

## Rankings

Ranked among 48,075 open airports; = marks a shared place.

| Measure | Value | World | Region | Country |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Passengers | 663K (2012) | #988 of 3,974 | #62 in Africa | #6 in ZA |
| Longest runway | 1,939 m / 6,362 ft | =4,209 of 29,858 | #472 in Africa | #27 in ZA |
| Elevation | 133 m / 435 ft | =28,350 of 43,403 | #2,621 in Africa | #461 in ZA |
| Age | Opened 1944 | =2,300 of 15,079 | #40 in Africa | #5 in ZA |
| Runways | 2 | =715 of 29,978 | =24 in Africa | =13 in ZA |

## Radio frequencies

| Type | Description | MHz |
| --- | --- | --- |
| APP | APP | 120.100 |
| ATIS | ATIS | 126.450 |
| GTE | APRON | 122.650 |
| TWR | TWR | 118.300 |

## Nearby airports

- [ZA-0182](https://dromopedia.com/airports/za-0182.md) Wings Park Airfield · 23 km / 15 mi
- [ZA-0181](https://dromopedia.com/airports/za-0181.md) Kwelega Road Airstrip · 25 km / 15 mi
- [FAWG](https://dromopedia.com/airports/za-0180.md) Watts Landing Airport · 26 km / 16 mi
- [ZA-0184](https://dromopedia.com/airports/za-0184.md) Haga Haga Airfield · 49 km / 30 mi
- [FAKO](https://dromopedia.com/airports/fako.md) Komga Airport · 49 km / 31 mi
- [ZA-0183](https://dromopedia.com/airports/za-0183.md) Mtwentwe Farm Airfield · 49 km / 31 mi

## Sources

- [NOAA Aviation Weather Center](https://aviationweather.gov/data/api/): Weather data: NOAA Aviation Weather Center (Public Domain (US Government))
- [OurAirports](https://ourairports.com/data/): Airport data from OurAirports (Public Domain)
- [Wikidata](https://www.wikidata.org): Structured data from Wikidata (CC0 1.0)
- [Wikipedia: “King Phalo Airport”](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=King_Phalo_Airport&oldid=1371349014), revision of 26 Aug 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- [timezone-boundary-builder](https://github.com/evansiroky/timezone-boundary-builder): Time zone boundaries © OpenStreetMap contributors, timezone-boundary-builder (ODbL 1.0)
- Every figure with its source: https://dromopedia.com/airports/fael/data