# King Phalo Airport (ELS)

> East London, ZA · IATA: ELS · ICAO: FAEL · Medium Airport · Cargo Hub

## Quick Facts

| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| IATA | `ELS` |
| ICAO | `FAEL` |
| City | East London |
| Country | ZA |
| Type | Medium Airport |
| Elevation | 133 m |
| Cargo | ✅ |
| GPS | -33.03560, 27.82590 |

## Description

Renamed from East London Airport to honour the Xhosa king Phalo, ELS sits on South Africa's Indian Ocean coast in the Eastern Cape. The airport handles 20 to 30 flights a day, mostly domestic links to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban flown by Airlink and FlySafair. East London is automotive country — the Mercedes-Benz plant builds C-Class cars for export — but the bulk of that traffic leaves by sea through the adjacent Port of East London and its Ro-Ro car terminal. At the airport, BidAir Cargo and belly-hold capacity move time-critical automotive components and general freight, with ground handling from operators including Menzies Aviation. Customs clearance runs through the South African Revenue Service (SARS); for heavy export volumes the harbour, not the runway, carries the load. The tight cluster of plant, port and airport within a few kilometres is the local point of reference.

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*Freight Academy — Airport Profile: [https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/king-phalo-airport-els](https://www.freight-academy.com/en/information/airports/king-phalo-airport-els)*

*Markdown mirror: [https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/king-phalo-airport-els](https://www.freight-academy.com/api/md/airports/en/king-phalo-airport-els)*

*LLM-Summary (JSON): https://www.freight-academy.com/api/v1/airports/king-phalo-airport-els/llm-summary*