PLZ

Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport

ICAO FAPE33.9897°S 25.6174°E69 m / 226 ftLarge airport
On the map

Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport (IATA: PLZ, ICAO: FAPE) is a large airport in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Eastern Cape, South Africa. It opened in 1929. It has 2 runways; the longest is 2,160 m (7,087 ft). It is operated by Airports Company South Africa. In 2024 it handled 1.5 million passengers.

Timeline

1 event · 1929–1929
1929
OpenedChief Dawid Stuurman International Airport opens.
From WikidataEvery airfield, 1903–2026

Runways & airfield

Schematic · N · © OpenStreetMap
08/26058° / 238° · LIT
LENGTH2,160 m7,087 ftWIDTH46 m151 ftSURFACEAsphalt
17/35146° / 326° · LIT
LENGTH1,677 m5,502 ftWIDTH46 m151 ftSURFACEAsphalt

Passengers per year

2013–2024
1.3M
1.4M
1.6M
1.6M
1.6M
1.7M
1.7M
425K
904K
1.2M
1.4M
1.5M
131415161718192021222324

Routes

4 destinations · 1 country
Most destinationsFlySafair 4Airlink 3CemAir 2BidAir Cargo 1

Straight lines are great circles; rings mark true distance from PLZ. Blue: cargo. From the Wikipedia article “Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport” (revision of 7 Jul 2026), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Records & rankings

Ranked among 48,011 open airports · world · region · country
Passengers1.5M (2024)1 · FEWER1 · FEWERMEDIAN · 64KMEDIAN · 64KMORE · 103MMORE · 103M#676of 3,974 · #38 Africa · #5 ZALongest runway2,160 m7,087 ft46 m · SHORT150 ft · SHORTMEDIAN · 975 mMEDIAN · 3,200 ftLONG · 5,300 mLONG · 17,388 ft=3,408of 29,823 · #402 Africa · #21 ZAElevation69 m226 ft-386 m · LOW-1,266 ft · LOWMEDIAN · 240 mMEDIAN · 787 ftHIGH · 4,938 mHIGH · 16,200 ft=33,208of 43,341 · #2,744 Africa · #488 ZAAgeOpened 19292026 · NEWEST2026 · NEWESTMEDIAN · 1976MEDIAN · 1976OLDEST · 1902OLDEST · 1902=369of 15,079 · =13 Africa · #1 ZARunways21 · FEWER1 · FEWERMEDIAN · 1MEDIAN · 1MORE · 8MORE · 8=713of 29,943 · =24 Africa · =13 ZA
Scale: share of airports ranked below, best on the right · ties shown as = and a band · passengers are each airport’s latest year on record

Radio frequencies

5 channels
APPAPP120.400
ATISATIS112.900
GTEAPRON122.650
TWRTWR118.100
CLNCClearance Delivery122.100