Mangai Ii, CD 🇨🇩 Closed Airport
FZCM
-
1410 ft
CD-KL
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: -4.083° N, 19.5° E
Continent: AF
Type: Closed Airport
Keywords: FZCM
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The exact date of closure is not officially documented. However, it is believed that the airport fell into disuse and was permanently closed during the period of intense conflict and economic collapse in the Democratic Republic of Congo, likely between the late 1990s and early 2000s. The closure was a gradual process of abandonment rather than a single decreed event.
The closure was due to a combination of factors. The primary reasons include a general breakdown of state infrastructure and lack of funding for maintenance, which were severely exacerbated by the First and Second Congo Wars (1996-2003). The airstrip, being unpaved, required constant upkeep which ceased, allowing it to become overgrown and unusable. Furthermore, its function was likely made redundant by the nearby Mangai Airport (IATA: MAT, ICAO: FZCK), which is located just a few kilometers to the northwest and remains the primary, active airstrip for the town of Mangai.
Based on recent satellite imagery, the site of Mangai Ii Airport is completely abandoned and derelict. The former runway is still clearly visible as a long, straight clearing in the landscape, but it is entirely overgrown with tall grass, shrubs, and small trees, rendering it unusable for any aviation purposes. There is no infrastructure remaining, and the land appears to have been reclaimed by nature. It is not being used for agriculture, construction, or any other discernible purpose.
Mangai Ii Airport was a classic Congolese bush airstrip. Its significance was not strategic or military, but purely functional and humanitarian. In a country with a vast and often impassable road network, such airstrips were vital lifelines for remote communities like Mangai. When active, it would have handled small, propeller-driven aircraft, likely STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) capable, such as Cessna, Pilatus Porter, or Britten-Norman Islander aircraft. Operations would have consisted of non-scheduled charter flights operated by missionary organizations, NGOs (like Médecins Sans Frontières), and small local air carriers. These flights transported essential personnel (doctors, aid workers, officials), medical supplies, and vital goods, connecting Mangai to regional centers like Kikwit and the capital, Kinshasa.
There are no known or publicly discussed plans to rehabilitate or reopen Mangai Ii Airport. The existence of the operational Mangai Airport (FZCK) nearby, which serves the current needs of the community, makes the prospect of reopening this second, abandoned airstrip extremely unlikely. Any available resources for aviation infrastructure in the region would logically be directed towards maintaining and improving the existing active airport rather than restoring a derelict one.
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