Harare International Airport
| Harare International Airport | |||||||||||
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Joint (Civil and Military) | ||||||||||
| Operator | Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe | ||||||||||
| Serves | Harare, Zimbabwe | ||||||||||
| Hub for | Air Zimbabwe | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 4,887 ft / 1,490 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 17°55′54.5″S 31°05′34.25″E / 17.931806°S 31.0928472°E | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
 HRE
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| Statistics (2009) | |||||||||||
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| Passengers | 612,208 |
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Harare International Airport (IATA: HRE, ICAO: FVHA) is an international airport in Harare, Zimbabwe. It is the largest airport in the country and serves as the base of Air Zimbabwe. The airport is operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Zimbabwe.
Commissioned in 1956 and officially opened on 5 February 1957, Salisbury Airport cost £924,000 to build. According to the 1950 report of the Director of Civil Aviation, the city's original aerodrome, Belvedere Airport, had proved to be inadequate and had to be abandoned for the following reasons:
A site therefore had to be found for the construction of an airport that would be safer and more suitable for commercial activities.
The Southern Rhodesian government had appointed a Southern Rhodesia Aerodrome Board as early as January 1947, whose task was to advise the government on the selection, acquisition, construction and maintenance of government aerodromes and landing grounds in Southern Rhodesia. Later the same year, an Airfield Construction Unit was formed to undertake an extensive search for a suitable site for a national airport.
In 1949 the government purchased Kentucky and Adair farms east of Salisbury (2,700 acres at a cost of £54,000) for the construction of the new airport. Also in 1949 the Minister of Mines and Transport set up an Airport Panel to co-ordinate the construction of the airport. The Panel comprised representatives of the interested government departments, the Municipality of Salisbury and Rhodesia Railways.
In 1951 the government announced that the airport would be developed as a joint user aerodrome for both civil aviation and the Southern Rhodesian Air Force (SRAF). Construction of the airport began soon afterwards and by September 1951, an 8,400 ft runway had been completed, enabling the first aircraft, an SRAF Anson, to land at the new airport.
Originally, it was anticipated that the airport would be completed by 1954. It was, however, not completed until two years later because the government ran out of funds in October 1952 and had to suspend the project temporarily. The new Salisbury Airport was finally commissioned on 1 July 1956 by the government of Rhodesia and Nyasaland. The cost of constructing the airport was £924,000.
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