Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport, is the main international airport of Angola. It is located in the southern part of the capital Luanda, situated in the Luanda Province. Quatro de Fevereiro means 4 February, which is an important national holiday in Angola, marking the start of the armed struggle against the Portuguese colonial regime on 4 February 1961. In 2009, about 1.8 million passengers were counted.HistoryThe airport started to be constructed in 1951, to serve the capital of the then Portuguese Overseas Province of Angola. It was inaugurated in 1954, by the Portuguese President Craveiro Lopes. In honor to him, the official name of the airport became President Craveiro Lopes Airport (Aeroporto Presidente Craveiro Lopes). In August 1975 the airport hosted tens of thousands of mostly white Portuguese Angolans in transit, camping at the airport ahead of fleeing to Lisbon via "Operation Air Bridge". Following the independence of Angola from Portugal in November 1975, the airport was re-baptized Quatro de Fevereiro Internacional Airport.FacilitiesThe airport resides at an elevation of 243ft above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 05/23 is 3716x and 07/25 is 2600x. Starting in Mid-2017, the airport will be replaced by the new Angola International Airport. Construction work has already started, but its opening was postponed due to financial difficulties on the part of the Angolan government.