# Diego Garcia Naval Support Facility (NKW)

> Diego Garcia, IO · IATA: NKW · Medium Airport

## Quick Facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| IATA | `NKW` |
| City | Diego Garcia |
| Country | IO |
| Type | Medium Airport |
| Elevation | 3 m |
| Cargo | ❌ |
| GPS | -7.31327, 72.41110 |

## Description

Few places carry as much Cold War cargo history as this remote atoll. Diego Garcia became a joint UK–US military outpost in the early 1970s after the Chagossian population was removed, and it has functioned ever since as a strategic basing and logistics site for the United States in the Indian Ocean – prepositioned naval supply ships in the lagoon and long-range bomber deployments, not commercial freight. The base sits roughly 1,700 km south of India, with no civilian access and no customs clearance for trade goods. Under the 2025 sovereignty agreement, Mauritius now holds title to the archipelago while the UK retains operating rights over the base for 99 years. For freight forwarders the field is effectively off the map. Anyone with genuine Indian Ocean traffic should route via Colombo (CMB), Malé (MLE) or Mauritius (MRU) instead of NKW.

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*Freight Academy — Airport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/diego-garcia-naval-support-facility-airport-nkw](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/diego-garcia-naval-support-facility-airport-nkw)*

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*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/airports/diego-garcia-naval-support-facility-airport-nkw/llm-summary*