Virginia Airport

Virginia Airport ICAO (FAVG)

Virginia Airport
Virginia Airport ICAO (FAVG); Virginia Airport
	IATA: VIR; ICAO: FAVG;
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	eThekwini Municipality
Operator	Indiza Airport Management
Serves	Durban, South Africa
Elevation AMSL	20 ft / 6 m
Coordinates	29°46′14″S031°03′30″E / 29.77056°S 31.05833°E Coordinates: 29°46′14″S031°03′30″E / 29.77056°S 31.05833°E
Map
	VIR Durban North
Runways
	Sources:

Last updated January 16, 2023

Virginia Airport( IATA : VIR, ICAO : FAVG) is an airport serving Durban,^[1] the largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. This general aviation airport is located 10 kilometres (5.4 nautical miles ) north east of Durban.

This airport was the home of the Durban Airshow before it ran into problems by failing to meet new public safety standards.^[3] The Durban Airshow was eventually permanently cancelled due to the close proximity of the crowd line to the runway.^[3] Now Virginia Airport primarily serves as a training ground for pilots of varying skills.

The airport was threatened to be closed down in December 2018. The plan was to replace it by a development which would have comprised a hotel, upmarket residential houses as well as leisure and related developments. It was planned to build a new airport in Scottburgh on the South Coast of Durban, what did not materialize because it was disliked by the current Virginia Airport users because it is too far away from the city.^[4]^[5]

Facilities

The airport is at an elevation of 20 feet (6 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 05/23 with an asphalt surface measuring 925 by 22 metres (3,035 ft × 72 ft).^[1]

The airport is home to the Durban Wings Club and thus boasts having one of the oldest flying clubs in the country.^[6]

History

Virginia Airport was officially opened by the then Mayor of Durban, W E Shaw in June 1959. The opening was commemorated by an air race which ended at Virginia. The decision to open a new airport was motivated by the need to relocate the light aircraft operating out of the Stamford Hill Aerodrome to a more suitably sized aerodrome. At the time the airport commenced operations it was noted that there were no houses in the vicinity and plenty of room for expansion.

Initially just two hangars were relocated from Stamford Hill to Virginia and a few smaller buildings were built. Those same hangars are still in use today.^[7]

Related Research Articles

Sywell Aerodrome is the local aerodrome serving the towns of Northampton, Wellingborough, Kettering and Rushden, as well as wider Northamptonshire. The aerodrome is located 5 nautical miles northeast of Northampton and was originally opened in 1928 on the edge of Sywell village.

Durban International Airport was the international airport of Durban from 1951 until 2010, when it was replaced by King Shaka International Airport, 60 kilometres (37 mi) to the north. The airport is co-located with AFB Durban.

Kimberley Airport is an airport serving Kimberley, the capital city of the province of Northern Cape in South Africa. The airport is approximately 10 km away from the centre of Kimberley.

Eros Airport or Windhoek Eros Airport is an airport serving Windhoek, the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in the Khomas Region, about 5 km (3 mi) south of Windhoek's central business district and was a secondary hub for Air Namibia.

Airdrie Aerodrome is a registered aerodrome located 2.6 nautical miles southeast of Airdrie, Alberta, Canada.

Wagga Wagga Airport is located adjacent to RAAF Base Wagga, and 5.8 nautical miles southeast of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales, Australia. The airfield is an operational base, but is leased by the Wagga Wagga City Council on a 30-year lease from the Australian Department of Defence, with RAAF Base Wagga being a ground training base. The airfield is still used by military aircraft, mostly transport aircraft transporting freight or passengers.

Dallas Executive Airport, formerly Redbird Airport, is six miles (10 km) southwest of Downtown Dallas, in Dallas County, Texas, United States. The airport is used for general aviation and is a reliever airport for Dallas Love Field.

Bhadrapur Airport, also known as Chandragadhi Airport, is a domestic airport located in Bhadrapur, primarily serving Jhapa and Ilam districts in Province No. 1, Nepal. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal considers it an important hub for passengers entering Nepal from the north eastern states of India, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

Mariana Grajales Airport is an airport serving Guantánamo, a city in Cuba. It is located near the villages of Paraguay and Las Lajas. The airport is named after Mariana Grajales Cuello.

Hood Aerodrome is an aerodrome, located in Masterton, New Zealand, it is located 1 NM South West of the town centre in the suburb of Solway. The aerodrome was named after George Hood, a pioneer Masterton aviator who died trying to make the first Trans-Tasman crossing in 1928. The aerodrome is used extensively for general aviation flights, and has also been used for commercial flights, Air New Zealand stopped serving the airport from 5 February 2014. Two new airlines have looked at re-instating a service to Auckland using larger aircraft but the runway will need to be lengthened to 1400m and widened to 30m first before it can start.

Bunbury Airport is an airport servicing the Western Australian city of Bunbury. Bunbury Airport is located 8 km (5.0 mi) south-east of the city centre and is the only airport serving the city. The airport is used largely as a facility for General Aviation, pilot training and emergency services. Bunbury Airport serves an area that includes the City of Bunbury and the surrounding districts of Harvey, Dardanup, Capel and Donnybrook-Balingup.

Ken Jones Aerodrome is an airport located 10 km (6.2 mi) west of Port Antonio, in northeastern Jamaica. The facility is named after Jamaican civil servant and politician Kenneth Arthur Newton Jones. It serves tourist resorts in the area and local travel.

Scone Memorial Airport, is a public airport in the Upper Hunter Valley, 4 km (2.5 mi) northwest of Scone, New South Wales, Australia. It was built to provide a public aerodrome replacing Nandowra aerodrome on located on "Nandowra", approx. 9 km south of Scone.

Reims – Prunay Aerodrome is an airfield serving the city of Reims. It is located 10 km (5.4 NM) east-southeast of Reims, near Prunay, both communes in the Marne department in the Grand Est region in northeastern France.

Melun Villaroche Aerodrome is an aerodrome located 8.5 km (4.6 NM) north of Melun, a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France.

Pontoise Aerodrome or Pontoise – Cormeilles Aerodrome is an airport located 7 km (3.8 NM) northwest of Pontoise in Boissy l'Aillerie near Cormeilles-en-Vexin, all communes of the Val-d'Oise department in the Île-de-France region in northern France. The airport is also located 16 miles (26 km) northwest of Paris.

Auxerre – Branches Aerodrome is an airport serving Auxerre and Branches, both communes of the Yonne department in the Bourgogne region of France. The airport is located 8.5 km (4.6 NM) northwest of Auxerre and approximately 4 km (2.2 NM) southeast of Branches.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Foggia "Gino Lisa" Airport</span> Airport

Foggia "Gino Lisa" Airport is an airport serving Foggia, Italy. Its name commemorates the Italian aviator Gino Lisa (1896-1917).

Ladysmith Airport is an airport serving Ladysmith, a town in the KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa.

Maitland Airport, also known as Russell Field is a general aviation airport located in the suburb of Rutherford, approximately 5 km (3.1 mi) from Maitland in the Australian state of New South Wales. There are currently no airline services, with the airfield catering mostly to general aviation and recreational category aircraft. The airport has been owned and operated by the Royal Newcastle Aero Club since 1963 and shares a large training area with the nearby Cessnock Airport. Throughout its history, the airport has played host to many airshows, races and flying competitions. The field is named for the fifth President of the Royal Newcastle Aero Club, Robert Russell, who suffered a fatal heart attack while on the premises in 1966.

References

1 2 3 Airport information for FAVG from DAFIF (effective October 2006)
↑ Airport information for VIR at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).
1 2 "Why the Virginia Airshow was cancelled | Northglen News". Northglen News. 12 April 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2017.
↑ Attwood, Vivian; Naidoo, Mervyn (10 May 2015). "Virginia Airport will close by December 2018". IOL News. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
↑ Shiraz, Habbib (22 November 2017). "Virginia Airport development bid rejected". Northglen News. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
↑ "History of the Durban Wings Club" . Retrieved 28 November 2018.
↑ "History of Virginia". Durban Aviation Centre. Retrieved 28 November 2018.

External links

Accident history for VIR at Aviation Safety Network

This article about an airport in South Africa is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[WAD-1] 1 2 3 Airport information for FAVG from DAFIF (effective October 2006)

[GCM-2] Airport information for VIR at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006).

[:0-3] 1 2 "Why the Virginia Airshow was cancelled | Northglen News". Northglen News. 12 April 2014. Retrieved 23 October 2017.

[4] Attwood, Vivian; Naidoo, Mervyn (10 May 2015). "Virginia Airport will close by December 2018". IOL News. Retrieved 28 March 2018.

[5] Shiraz, Habbib (22 November 2017). "Virginia Airport development bid rejected". Northglen News. Retrieved 28 March 2018.

[6] "History of the Durban Wings Club" . Retrieved 28 November 2018.

[7] "History of Virginia". Durban Aviation Centre. Retrieved 28 November 2018.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]