Kinshasa, June 18th, 2026 (CPA) – N’djili international airport in the east of the city of Kinshasa, capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, has recorded no damage to domestic or international traffic after a fire broke out on Wednesday at the airport, according to airport sources.
‘Traffic was not affected, either domestic or international, because the tractor was right next to it on the service road. (…) And as it caught fire, we brought it under control and are in the process of clearing the tractor. So it hasn’t affected anything and it won’t affect either domestic or international traffic, and everything is normally under control’, declared Vicky Lundula, commander of Ndjili international airport. He took the opportunity to explain the cause of the fire, which he said had been brought under control by the fire brigade.
‘In the morning, a tractor belonging to a ground handling company, having pushed an aircraft belonging to an international airline, came to push another aircraft belonging to the national airline Air Congo. The tractor took its time and the technicians resorted to using a smaller one. In the meantime, the oncoming tractor stopped. A few minutes later, while the tractor was stopped, a flame broke out and the driver fled. The fire brigade was called and immediately brought the fire under control.
The proof is that the aircraft’s tyres did not catch fire and the situation returned to normal’, explained Vicky Lundula. The commander of Ndjili international airport added that no aircraft had caught fire and that the fire-fighting team had responded effectively. ‘It’s important to point out that it wasn’t the aircraft that caught fire, as some people might think, but just the tractor.
The fire was certainly impressive, but contained. The crews acted swiftly. There was no need to use the turrets, which spray water from the top of the Lorries and are designed for a very brief action of around three minutes’, he emphasized.
To bring the fire under control, said Major Lundula, ‘the technicians preferred to use side hoses, which are more effective in this type of operation, given that the source of the fire was clearly visible and accessible. Thanks to this strategy, the fire was quickly brought under control and even the tractor tyres didn’t burn.
In other words, we avoided the worst-case scenario, complete burn-out’. Following this unfortunate incident, Deputy Director General Louis-Blaise Londole and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Airway Regulation (RVA) descended on the airport site to assess the situation, which showed no major damage.