# Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport (PLZ / FAPE)

**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.

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

## At a glance

- IATA / ICAO: PLZ / FAPE
- Type: Large airport
- Operator: Airports Company South Africa
- Serves: Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth), Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Opened: 1929
- Elevation: 69 m / 226 ft
- Coordinates: -33.9897, 25.6174
- Runways: 2
- Longest runway: 2,160 m / 7,087 ft
- Passengers: 1,519,612 (2024)
- Time zone: UTC+2 · Africa/Johannesburg
- Website: https://www.airports.co.za/airports/chief-dawid-stuurman-international-airport
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chief_Dawid_Stuurman_International_Airport (18 languages)
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1432442
- Weather station: FAPE · WMO 68842
- Ident: FAPE

## Timeline

- 1929: Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport opens.

## Runways

| Ident | Length | Width | Surface | True headings | Lighted |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 08/26 | 2,160 m / 7,087 ft | 46 m / 151 ft | Asphalt | 058° / 238° | yes |
| 17/35 | 1,677 m / 5,502 ft | 46 m / 151 ft | Asphalt | 146° / 326° | yes |

## Passengers per year

| Year | Passengers | Source |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2013 | 1,251,178 | Wikidata |
| 2014 | 1,350,744 | Wikidata |
| 2015 | 1,604,381 | Wikidata |
| 2016 | 1,582,493 | Wikidata |
| 2017 | 1,641,393 | Wikidata |
| 2018 | 1,689,808 | Wikidata |
| 2019 | 1,689,914 | Wikidata |
| 2020 | 425,364 | Wikidata |
| 2021 | 904,396 | Wikidata |
| 2022 | 1,191,225 | Wikidata |
| 2023 | 1,427,483 | Wikidata |
| 2024 | 1,519,612 | Wikidata |

## Routes

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

### Year-round (4)

- [CPT](https://dromopedia.com/airports/fact.md) Cape Town International Airport · South Africa · 647 km / 402 mi · FlySafair, Airlink
- [DUR](https://dromopedia.com/airports/fale.md) King Shaka International Airport · South Africa · 712 km / 442 mi · FlySafair, CemAir, Airlink
- [JNB](https://dromopedia.com/airports/faor.md) O.R. Tambo International Airport · South Africa · 909 km / 565 mi · FlySafair, CemAir, Airlink
- [HLA](https://dromopedia.com/airports/fala.md) Lanseria International Airport · South Africa · 922 km / 573 mi · FlySafair

### Cargo (1)

- [JNB](https://dromopedia.com/airports/faor.md) O.R. Tambo International Airport · South Africa · 909 km / 565 mi · BidAir Cargo

## Airlines

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

### Passenger (3)

- FA [FlySafair](https://dromopedia.com/airlines/flysafair) · 4
- 4Z [Airlink](https://dromopedia.com/airlines/airlink) · 3
- 5Z [CemAir](https://dromopedia.com/airlines/cemair) · 2

### 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 | 1.5M (2024) | #676 of 3,974 | #38 in Africa | #5 in ZA |
| Longest runway | 2,160 m / 7,087 ft | =3,408 of 29,858 | #402 in Africa | #21 in ZA |
| Elevation | 69 m / 226 ft | =33,259 of 43,403 | #2,744 in Africa | #488 in ZA |
| Age | Opened 1929 | =369 of 15,079 | =13 in Africa | #1 in ZA |
| Runways | 2 | =715 of 29,978 | =24 in Africa | =13 in ZA |

## Radio frequencies

| Type | Description | MHz |
| --- | --- | --- |
| APP | APP | 120.400 |
| ATIS | ATIS | 112.900 |
| GTE | APRON | 122.650 |
| TWR | TWR | 118.100 |
| CLNC | Clearance Delivery | 122.100 |

## Nearby airports

- [FAPZ](https://dromopedia.com/airports/fapz.md) Progress Airport · 24 km / 15 mi
- [ZA-0185](https://dromopedia.com/airports/za-0185.md) Seaview Airport · 25 km / 15 mi
- [FAUH](https://dromopedia.com/airports/fauh.md) Uitenhage Airport · 31 km / 19 mi
- [ZA-0001](https://dromopedia.com/airports/za-0001.md) Beulah Airport · 62 km / 38 mi
- [ZA-0164](https://dromopedia.com/airports/za-0164.md) Vlakteplaas Airstrip · 63 km / 39 mi
- [FAPX](https://dromopedia.com/airports/fapx.md) Paradise Beach Airport · 69 km / 43 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: “Chief Dawid Stuurman International Airport”](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Chief_Dawid_Stuurman_International_Airport&oldid=1363026955), revision of 7 Jul 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/fape/data