Antananarivo Ivato Airport - Spotting Guide

Antananarivo Ivato Airport – Spotting Guide

August 22, 2024 - last modified on April 19, 2025

Antananarivo Ivato Airport (TNR/FMMI) is the main airport to the island and country of Madagascar handling about 1 million passenger a year. The airport is located roughly 15km northwest of the centre of Antananarivo in the village of Ivato, which is a roughly 45-60 minutes drive from the city centre. The airport is about 1200m above sealevel and home to the local carrier Tsaradia with its 5-6 ATR72s serving the domestic routes to Fort Dauphin, Nosy Be, Tulear, Morondova and more. Apart from that, TNR is approached by various foreign airlines connecting Madagascar with the rest of the world: like Nairobi, Addis Ababa, St Denis, Port Louis or Paris.

Written by Martin Le Penven. Last Update: April 2025 by Severin Hackenberger

Rating
Movements
Airline Variety
Photo Locations
Weather
Airport Information
Runways
11/29	3100m
Terminals
International Terminal	The new international terminal is in the east and handles all intl. flights.
Domestic Terminal	The older domestic terminal in the west and handles the local Tsaradia services.
Spotting Information
Ladder	Not needed as you are either on elevated hills or rooftop terraces around the airport. We would also strongly suggest not to use ladders here to avoid attention!
Car/Public Transport	Depending on what your deal is, where you stay and how much time you have, you can either try to shoot from the hotel rooftop or try to rent a car. Sometimes this is difficult in Madgascar: as the streets are so bad, they do not rent cars without guides sometimes and similar. However, there are plenty of taxies and local drivers hanging around in front of the hotels and terminal. We explained the drivers in French what our plan is, told him that he should wait for us for one hour at the spot and bring us back. We discussed a price in advance and just paid in the end.To give you an idea: the local driver took ~10.000 ariary (roughly 2€) for 10 minutes driving and 1 hour waiting, the taxi driver a day earlier took ~60.000 (roughly 12€) ariary for the same program.
Drinks/Food	You should bring water and snacks, there are only some small streetside shops selling freshly fried stuff and similar.
Hotels	There are plenty of hotels around the airport with some of them having nice rooftop terraces and thus views onto airplane movements. We found the FlyInn and Nosy Manga, both listed below, to be pretty solid options for both staying and spotting.
Season	During the season from April to September the weather is nicely warm and sunny with sunshine from the north all the time. From October to March the weather is quite hot and humid with lots of grey and rainy days, plus the sun is very harsh.
Security	Be aware that Madagascar is one of the poorest countries worldwide! Try to stow your camera as long as possible, do not hang around with expensive equipment! Stay in your car as long as possible and only get out with the cam for the pictures. Spotting in generally is not common in Madagascar at all. So stow your camera once security personnel is around as well!
Runway Usage
General Info	During our stay in February till April we mostly experienced movements in 11 direction. But 29 movements do also work and exist.

	Spot #1 – Dirt hill – 11/29 Movements
WHERE	This spot is located at the northwestern end of the airfield on a sort of hill, surrounding a small quarry, thus the area is a bit elevated here allowing nice views onto the runway. However, this area is hard to reach unless you have a car: you can either take a taxi here and tell him to wait or if you have a rental car come here by car yourself. We would suggest to park the car down by the roadside and walk up by foot as the road is quite bumpy. Then we would suggest to position yourself at the southeastern corner allowing the best and undisturbed view, however that position (we marked on the map) is only a suggestion, you can move around here here a bit variing your angle for different views.

WHAT	From here you will basically see all runway 11/29 movements.

TIME	Best in the afternoon/evening hours.

MISC.	Heat haze can be a problem on hot days. Nothing around here like toilets or shops. Be careful of wild insects and animals, bring repellent for sun and insects with you!

FOCAL LENGTH	70-300mm B77W = 120mm

	Spot #2 – Landing lights – 29 Backtracks/11 Departures
WHERE	Just a bit south of spot #1 you will find the landing lights crossing the street. The landing lights are protected by brick walls with a small footpath running north of that walls up the hill: follow this path up the hill till you reach a sufficient position with nice views.

WHAT	From here you can see down all along the runway. It is best for heavy 29 arrivals or departures as well as aircraft taxiing back prior 11 departure. However, be aware that due to a small hill in front and high grass you CAN NOT SEE THE TURNING PAD! So that you do not miss the first aircraft cause of that like we did…

TIME	This spot is good in the afternoon hours.

MISC.	Nothing needed, nothing around. Be careful of wild insects and animals, bring repellent for sun and insects with you!

FOCAL LENGTH	100-400mm

	Spot #3 – FlyInn Hotel – 29 Departures
WHERE	One of the first hotels along the street to the city is the FlyInn with a nice rooftop terrace also hosting a small restaurant. Simply enter the hotel, make your way up to the terrace in the staircase and search your favourite table.

WHAT	From the rooftop you can nicely spot small/light 29 departures. Heavies rotate mostly too late. Arrivals are not visible or only in the very far distance!

TIME	From October till February almost all day with End of december being the best time. From March till September not useable due to backlight all day with End of June being the worst time.

MISC.	Toilets and food options around here directly. Haze is an issue during the day!

FOCAL LENGTH	200-400mm

Unluckily due to “wrong runway direction” and bad light, we cannot offer you any examples from here yet.

	Spot #4 – Nosy Manga Hotel – 11/29 Departures
WHERE	A few meters up the street and hill towards Antananarivo city centre, you will find a new hotel called Nosy Manga to the east of the street. On the top floor you will find a rooftop terrace with pool and restaurant from where you have a nice view onto the airfield in the farer distance.

WHAT	From here you can nicely see departures from runway 11 and 29. Arrivals are not visible or only in the very far distance!

TIME	From October till February almost all day with End of december being the best time. From March till September not useable due to backlight all day with End of June being the worst time.

MISC.	Toilets and food options around here directly. Haze is an issue during the day!

FOCAL LENGTH	350-500mm