Diori Hamani International Airport is an airport in

Niamey Niamey () is the capital and largest city of Niger. As the Niamey Urban Community (, CUN), it is a Regions of Niger, first-level division of Niger, surrounded by the Tillabéri Region, in the western part of the country. Niamey lies on the Nige ...

, the capital of

Niger Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state Geography of Niger#Political geography, bordered by Libya to the Libya–Niger border, north-east, Chad to the Chad–Niger border, east ...

. It is located from Niamey in the south-eastern suburbs of the city, along the

Route Nationale 1 The Route nationale 1 is a trunk road (Route Nationale (France), nationale) in France between Paris and Calais. It is approximately long. Reclassification The majority of the original road has been superseded by the A16 autoroute. As a result, ...

, the major highway linking Niamey with the east of the nation. The airport complex also includes the major base for the Armed Forces of Niger's "''Armee d'Air''".

Overview

Traffic

In 2019, the airport served 363,093 passengers. The

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled air ...

for NIM is operated by the ASECNA, which bases one of its five air traffic zones for the continent at Niamey. The airport is named after Hamani Diori (1916–1989), the first President of Niger.

EAMAC

ASECNA operates the "''African School for Meteorology and Civil Aviation/Ecole Africaine de la Météorologie et de l'Aviation Civile''" at the Niamey airport complex, as well as in the Plateau quarter of Niamey city centre. Founded in 1963, EAMAC trains

civil aviation Civil aviation is one of two major categories of flying, representing all non-military and non-state aviation, which can be both private and commercial. Most countries in the world are members of the International Civil Aviation Organization and ...

professionals and aviation

meteorologists A meteorologist is a scientist who studies and works in the field of meteorology aiming to understand or predict Earth's atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric phenomena including the weather. Those who study meteorological phenomena are meteorologists ...

from across Africa.

Base Aérienne 101

The Niger Air Force maintains Base Aérienne 101, which is collocated with Diori Hamani International Airport. It has been variously used by American, French, and Russian armed forces as a base for operations and training missions. In 2013, U.S. African Command spokesman Benjamin Benson confirmed that U.S. air operations conducted from Base Aérienne 101 at Diori Hamani International Airport were providing "support for intelligence collection with French forces conducting operations in Mali and with other partners in the region." In July 2013, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reported that the deployment had expanded from one

Predator Predation is a biological interaction in which one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common List of feeding behaviours, feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation ...

UAV to daily flights by a detachment of two larger

MQ-9 Reaper The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (sometimes called Predator B) is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV, one component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS)) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomi ...

remotely piloted aircraft, supported by 120 U.S. Air Force personnel. The MQ-9 Reapers were scheduled to be relocated to Niger Air Base 201 in 2018. Around 2013, two

Ku band The Ku band () is the portion of the electromagnetic spectrum in the microwave range of frequencies from 12 to 18 gigahertz (GHz). The symbol is short for "K-under" (originally ), because it is the lower part of the original NATO K ban ...

arrays were constructed at the airport to allow for communication with EADS Harfang UAVs. The

French Air and Space Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the French Air F ...

Escadron de Drones 1/33 Belfort operated three MQ-9 Reapers out of the base starting in January 2014 in support of

Operation Barkhane Operation Barkhane (French language, French: ''Opération Barkhane'') was a counterinsurgency operation that started on 1 August 2014 and formally ended on 9 November 2022. It was led by the French military against Islamist groups in Africa's S ...

. France also deployed Dassault Mirage 2000D aircraft from the French Air Forces detachment (DETAIR) to the base. A French Operational Transport Group was also based at the airbase as of 2020, controlling Lockheed C-130J Hercules aircraft instead of the previous Transall C-160s. The Nigerien Air Force maintains two Cessna-208 Caravans equipped for

ISTAR ISTAR stands for Military intelligence, intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance. In its macroscopic sense, #ISTAR, ISTAR is a practice that links several battlefield functions together to assist a combat force in employ ...

operations at the airport. In the aftermath of the 2023 Nigerien coup d'état, both

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

were told to withdraw their military personnel from the country. French forces departed from the airbase in December 2023. In May 2024 Russian troops moved in to one of the airports' hangars while some U.S. troops were still on the same property, but not in same buildings. On 7 July 2024, the U.S. completed withdrawal of all troops from the airbase.

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Ground transportation

Road

Diori Hamani International Airport is situated on

, which connects it to the city of

to the northwest, as well as to Dosso, Maradi, Zinder, Goure, Diffa, and

N'guigmi N'guigmi is a city and Communes of Niger, Commune of fifteen thousand in the easternmost part of Niger, very near to Lake Chad – lying on its shore until the lake retreated. It is a crossroads for the traditional camel caravans of the Toureg ...

to the east.

Rail

The railway track passing by the airport, which connects it to Niamey railway station and Dosso, is abandoned since its construction (and will not be operational in the near future).

References

External links

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ais-asecna.org Aeronautical charts for NIAMEY/Diori Hamani (DRRN)
{{authority control Airports in Niger Buildings and structures in Niamey Airport Diori Hamani