On 1 July 2019, the airport was renamed Melchior Ndadaye International Airport after the first democratically elected president of Burundi who was murdered in a coup d'état in October 1993, three months after being elected.
The airport was renamed in honor of Melchior Ndadaye, the first democratically elected president of Burundi, who was murdered in a coup d'état in October 1993, three months after being elected.