Kismayo Airport (KMU)

At a glance

• Codes: IATA KMU, ICAO HCMK (OurAirports, HCMK).
• Runway: one asphalt runway, numbered 05/23 by Wikipedia and 4/22 by OurAirports, 12,139 feet long and 147 feet wide, which is about 3,700 by 45 metres; Wikipedia gives 3,688 metres (OurAirports; Wikipedia, Kismayo Airport).
• Height: 49 feet (15 metres) above sea level, just inland from the Indian Ocean coast at 0.38° S, south of the equator (same sources).
• City: Kismaayo (Kismayo) and Lower Juba, seat of Jubaland.

Building the runway

Italian Somaliland had a natural-surface airfield at Kismayo in the 1930s. The CIA, watching Soviet-backed works across Somalia, recorded the new airport under construction in 1973 to replace the old field (Wikipedia, citing a CIA photographic report). The long runway, like those at Berbera and Baidoa, was built to military length.

Who runs it

Kismayo changed hands many times during the civil war; for the city's story see Lower Juba. In August 2013, under the agreement signed in Addis Ababa between the federal government and the Juba Interim Administration, the airport was put under the Jubaland administration. The deal said management would pass to the federal government after six months and that airport revenues would pay for Jubaland's services, security and institutions (Wikipedia, citing Garowe Online, August 2013). Control of the airport has been part of later disputes between Kismayo and Mogadishu; see Presidents of Jubaland and Jubaland security forces.

Bases and the UN compound

The airport holds Camp Kismayo, a base for the Somali National Army and African Union troops (now AUSSOM), and a large United Nations compound (Wikipedia). US Air Force transport aircraft of the 75th Expeditionary Airlift Squadron have flown cargo into the airport to supply the Danab brigade and US special forces in the region (DVIDS).

Flights and aid

For carriers serving the city see Airlines in Somalia. The UN Logistics Cluster, which coordinates aid flights, publishes a specification sheet for the airfield so humanitarian operators can plan landings (Logistics Cluster). Kismayo's seaport is covered on Somalia's seaports.