Dzaoudzi Pamandzi International Airport

Dzaoudzi Pamandzi International Airport is the sole airport of Mayotte, a French overseas department and region (DOM-ROM) in the Indian Ocean between Madagascar and the African mainland. Located on the small island of Petite-Terre at Pamandzi, just 23 ft (7 m) elevation beside a lagoon, the airport is separated from the main island of Grande-Terre by a short ferry crossing — giving Mayotte one of the most unusual capital-territory airport geographies in the world. The airport's classification as an international airport reflects Mayotte's integration into both the European Union (as an outermost region of France) and its geographic setting in the Comoros archipelago, producing a distinctive French-EU border post on African waters. The airport handles 10 routes across 8 destinations through 4 airlines. Air Austral, the La Réunion-based French carrier, operates the flagship long-haul service to Paris Charles de Gaulle via Réunion (SaintDenis) with Boeing 787 widebody equipment — a route that functions as Mayotte's primary economic and administrative link to mainland France. Air Madagascar, Ewa Air (Mayotte's own carrier), and Kenya Airways round out the schedule with regional services to Madagascar (Antananarivo, Nosy Be, Mahajanga), the Comoros (Moroni), and Kenya (Nairobi). The Réunion and Paris connections together generate the majority of capacity and reflect the economic and political realities of an overseas French territory. The single asphalt runway 16/34 measures 6,330 ft (1,930 m), adequate for the Boeing 787 operations on the Paris route but with performance constraints that require specific weight limits. The runway was extended as part of a multi-phase airport modernization following the 2011 departmentalization that formalized Mayotte's integrated French and EU status. A longer-term plan for a replacement airport on Grande-Terre has been discussed for decades without resolution. Mayotte's population of roughly 320,000 makes DZA one of the more trafficked per-capita airports in the Indian Ocean.