AviatDataPraia Nelson Mandela International Airport RAI / GVNP
Praia · Cape Verde · Cabo Verde Airports, S.A. (VINCI Airports 70% / ANA Aeroportos de Portugal 30%; 40-year concession, effective 24-Jul-2023 when operations transferred from state agency ASA; covers 7 Cabo Verde airports incl. RAI)
743kpax · 2025
H24International · customs & immigrationJet A-1
ICAO / IATAGVNP / RAI
OperatorCabo Verde Airports, S.A. (VINCI Airports 70% / ANA Aeroportos de Portugal 30%; 40-year concession, effective 24-Jul-2023 when operations transferred from state agency ASA; covers 7 Cabo Verde airports incl. RAI)
Coordinates14.9412°N, 23.4849°W
Elevation324 ft · 99 m
Time zoneGMT-1 (UTC-1, no DST)
Passengers / yr743,000 (2025)
CustomsYes
Border controlYes
SchengenNo
FuelJet A-1
Bonded—
AIP referenceGVNP — AIP Cabo Verde (ASA — retained the AIP/ANS role after the 2023 airport-operations concession to VINCI)
Operating hoursH24 — ATS, customs/immigration, fueling and handling all continuous per AIP
Terminals1 (combined international and domestic)
Runways (1)
- 03/21 · 2,100 m / 6,890 ft · 45 m wide · Asphalt (PCN 49 F/B/X/U)
Airport contact
Runway 03/21 is a single 2,100 m x 45 m asphalt pavement, PCN 49 F/B/X/U, per the ASA eAIP AD 2.12 — confirmed independently by Wikipedia, VINCI Airports and Cabo Verde Airports' own site, which all give 2,100 m. The earlier draft used 2,005 m, but that is actually just RWY 21's declared distance (TORA/TODA/ASDA/LDA all 2,005 m in that direction) — RWY 03 keeps the full 2,100 m for TORA/TODA/ASDA, while a 200 m displaced threshold cuts LDA(03) to 1,900 m. No ILS is published: only VOR/DME (SNT, 116.60 MHz), NDB (PRA, 349 kHz) and PAPI (both ends) support the approach, so expect visual or non-precision minima in low cloud. A Cat II ILS is claimed on a few third-party travel-aggregator pages but does not appear in the AIP and should not be trusted. Elevation is 324 ft / 99 m per AD 2.2, agreeing with SkyVector's independent 324.0 ft figure — Wikipedia's commonly-quoted 70 m / 230 ft is the figure to distrust here, not the AIP value the earlier draft was close to. Coordinates corrected to the AIP ARP, 14 56 28.29N 023 29 05.49W (about 14.9412, -23.4849) — the earlier draft's lat/lon were off by roughly 100 m; SkyVector independently agrees with the corrected value. Single-runway field caps sustained wide-body operations; narrow-body and regional jets are the normal traffic mix. Contact phone could not be confirmed against a primary AIP GEN 3 listing — aggregators disagree between...8700 and...8100, so verify before relying on it.
Services
Available
On request / PPR
Seasonal / ageing
Unconfirmed / not listed
Ground handling
Available
Cabo Verde Handling, S.A. (Swissport)
Cape Verde's sole licensed ground-handling agent (LAE Nº 001/CV, licence issued by AAC — Agência de Aviação Civil), providing full passenger, ramp, baggage and turnaround handling for scheduled carriers at Praia Nelson Mandela International; founded 2014 out of the TACV restructuring, the company is 51%-owned by Swissport International AG following ASA's completion of the privatisation sale in August 2026 (confirmed: ASA announced the 51% sale to Swissport on 19 March 2026 for €36M, with an additional €10.5M investment commitment, and closed the transaction in August 2026; ASA retains the balance).
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Aircraft fuel
Available
ENACOL - Empresa Nacional de Combustíveis, S.A.R.L.
Sole documented Jet A-1 supplier and into-plane agent at Praia (verified directly on ENACOL's aviation page); its Santiago Island (Praia) fuel farm — two 500 m³ tanks with hydrant/dispenser equipment — has been operational since November 2009, supplying Jet A-1 to AFQRJOS/DEF STAN 91-91/ASTM D1655/IATA specifications via a trained team available 24 hours a day; ENACOL also serves Sal and Boa Vista airports. Phone and email are ENACOL's general corporate contacts (Mindelo HQ) — no aviation-specific line is published separately.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
De-icing
Not listed
Part-145 line maintenance
Unconfirmed
Cabo Verde Airlines (TACV - Transportes Aéreos de Cabo Verde)
Self-handled, Cabo Verde Airlines: the national flag carrier bases part of its fleet and network at Praia (its own online check-in explicitly covers Praia departures), and in-house transit/daily technical checks on its own aircraft at a home station are standard airline practice. Consistent with this, contemporaneous news coverage documents the carrier flying its Boeing 737 MAX 8 out to Ethiopia for scheduled maintenance, confirming heavier/base maintenance is performed off-island rather than at Praia. No separately certificated line-maintenance organisation or AAC approval number specific to Praia was found in public sources.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Part-145 base maintenance
Not listed
Component shops & overhaul
Not listed
Flight catering
On request
Cabo Verde Handling, S.A. (Swissport)
Coordinates onboard catering as an auxiliary service for the carriers it handles at Praia (per the same job-posting scope covering 'Catering, Limpeza, etc.'). No independently named flight-kitchen operator is confirmed at Praia itself — Cape Verde's dedicated caterer, Freitas Catering Services, is documented only at Sal/GVAC.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Aircraft cleaning
Available
Cabo Verde Handling, S.A. (Swissport)
Aircraft interior/cabin cleaning and lavatory & water servicing are part of the licensed assistência-em-escala scope CV Handling performs nationwide, including Praia; an AAC-listed CV Handling job posting explicitly tasks staff to 'coordenar serviços auxiliares (Catering, Limpeza, etc.)' at its stations.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Ground support equipment
Unconfirmed
Cabo Verde Handling, S.A. (Swissport)
As the national ramp handler, CV Handling necessarily operates its own ground-support-equipment fleet to perform the turnarounds described above at Praia; no independent third-party GSE lessor or maintainer is documented at this airport, and CV Handling's own GSE holdings are not separately itemised in public sources.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Cargo handling
Available · 2 providers
Cabo Verde Handling, S.A. (Swissport)
Freight/cargo handling at Praia falls under CV Handling's national ramp-handling licence; internal flight-handling documentation references a dedicated 'Seção Carga' briefing step in its station procedures. No separately incorporated cargo-terminal operator is documented at this airport.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Rangel Logística Cabo Verde, Lda
Freight-forwarding and logistics operator with its own office inside the Praia airport cargo terminal (address 'Terminal de Carga do Aeroporto Internacional da Praia' with the phone above, per rangel.com's own locations page, checked directly); also listed on the airport operator's own services directory (caboverde-airports.cv) as a logistics/warehousing partner of Cabo Verde airports. Part of Portugal's Rangel Logistics Solutions group, in Cabo Verde since 2015 with stations at Praia, Mindelo and Espargos (Sal); international air cargo, inter-island freight, customs clearance, warehousing and distribution; FedEx partner for international express and the official TAP Cargo agent in Cabo Verde (promotion, sales and supervision of operations). Note this is forwarder/GSA/customs capacity — physical ramp and warehouse cargo handling at Praia remains under CV Handling's national ground-handling licence. An older rangel.com listing also showed a Praia office at the Enapor Cargo Village (Sala M13, •••), which appears to be the seaport office rather than the airport one.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Aviation security
Unconfirmed
Cabo Verde Airports, S.A.
Airport security screening at Praia sits with the airport operator itself: Cabo Verde Airports, S.A. (VINCI Airports 70% / ANA 30%) took over operation of all seven Cabo Verde airports from state agency ASA in July 2023, and passenger/baggage screening is funded through the published airport security tax ('taxa de seguranca aeroportuaria'). Border control and airside policing are performed by the Policia Nacional de Cabo Verde (national police emergency line 132; immigration authority aai.gov.cv), which academic and official sources name as the primary force responsible for airport security in Cabo Verde. No separately contracted private AVSEC company is documented at Praia. Marked unconfirmed because the operator does not publish an explicit Praia-specific security-services page; the phone above is the operator's published main airport line on caboverde-airports.cv.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Passenger & crew transport
Available · 4 providers
Cabo Verde Handling, S.A. (Swissport)
Crew and passenger apron transport is typically bundled into the national handler's ramp-services scope at its stations; no independently documented dedicated transport fleet or contract specific to Praia was found.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Hertz Praia (Aeroporto Internacional Nelson Mandela)
Car rental desk at Praia Nelson Mandela International, listed with this phone and email on the airport operator's own services directory (caboverde-airports.cv, rent-a-car category); hertz.com also maintains its own Praia International Airport location page (location code RAIT50), confirming the franchise desk at the terminal. Aggregator data (Dec-2025) counts Hertz among 7 rental operators serving the airport, with the in-terminal signage leading to the Hertz area.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Intercidades Rent-a-Car
Local Cabo Verdean rent-a-car company with a desk at Praia Nelson Mandela International, listed with this phone and email on the airport operator's own services directory (caboverde-airports.cv), which describes it as an 'ideal partner for work, business or leisure trips'; operates on Santiago and Fogo islands.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Mendes & Mendes Rent-a-Car
Cabo Verdean rental group (Grupo Mendes & Mendes, mendesemendesgroup.com) with desks at three airports per the airport operator's own services directory (caboverde-airports.cv): Praia Nelson Mandela, Sao Vicente and Boa Vista; phone and reservations email as published on that directory. Aggregators place its Praia station next to the Hertz desk at the terminal.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Flight support
On request
Aviation Services Cabo Verde, Lda (AVS)
AAC-licensed ground-handling/aviation-services agent, headquartered at Sal (Amilcar Cabral International, The Concourse, 1st floor, Espargos). AVS's own site (avs.cv), checked directly, states its role at Praia International Airport specifically as 'representation services only' (airline/GSA representation) — its full-service lines (ground handling, fuel, catering, crew transport) are confined to its Sal and Boa Vista stations, not Praia. Contact correction: the number formerly listed as this company's general phone (•••) is labelled 'Fax' on AVS's own site, not a voice line, so it has been removed from the phone field; the AOG number above is AVS's published 24hr mobile line (a +351 Portugal 24hr mobile backup, •••, is also listed). No email address is published.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Hotel & travel
Unconfirmed · 2 providers
Pestana Trópico (Pestana Hotel Group)
4-star hotel of Portugal's Pestana Hotel Group in the Prainha seafront district of Praia (Cidade da Praia, C.P. 413, Santiago), roughly a 10-minute drive from Nelson Mandela International; pestana.com (checked directly) publishes the phone and reservations email above and offers airport/hotel transfers at EUR 18 per service, with outdoor saltwater pool, gym, restaurant, bar and meeting rooms. A natural crew/business layover choice in the capital, but no airline crew contract or negotiated crew-rate programme is publicly documented — hence unconfirmed for formal crew use.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source
Oásis Atlântico Praiamar
127-key seafront hotel (123 rooms, 3 suites and 1 presidential suite per oasisatlantico.com, checked directly) in the Prainha district of Praia, about 10 minutes from the airport per booking listings; part of the Oásis Atlântico group (six hotels across Cabo Verde, Lisbon HQ), with conference/meeting facilities making it a common business and delegation hotel in the capital. Phone above is published on the group's own contacts page; the ••• address circulating on aggregators is not shown on the group site itself, so it is omitted here. No documented airline crew contract — unconfirmed for formal crew use.
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Verified 2 weeks ago · unconfirmed source