Lungi International Airport
| Lungi International Airport | |||||||||||
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| IATA: FNA – ICAO: GFLL | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Serves | Freetown and Lungi | ||||||||||
| Location | Lungi, Sierra Leone | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 84 ft / 26 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 08°36′59.20″N 13°11′43.76″W / 8.6164444°N 13.1954889°W | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  FNA Location within Sierra Leone | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2009) | |||||||||||
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Freetown-Lungi International Airport (IATA: FNA, ICAO: GFLL) is an international airport located in the coastal town of Lungi, Sierra Leone. It serves as the primary airport for domestic and international travel to and from Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leone River separates Lungi International Airport from Freetown, the nation's capital city. The airport is operated by the Sierra Leone Airports Authority. Prior to its use as a civilian airport, it was a British Royal Air Force base.
Facilities
The terminal building of the airport composed of three distinct zones :a General Waiting Hall, a Departures Wing, and an Arrivals Wing. The General Waiting Hall provides ticketing desks for local transportation (coach, ferry, helicopter, hovercraft, and taxi), postal services, a travel agency office, and a restaurant. The Departures Wing contains duty-free shops, restaurants and a lounge for Business class passengers and VIPs. The Arrivals Wing has a customs hall with a money exchange window, a lost and found baggage office, and an information office. The airport grounds also contain two banks, a police center, various restaurants, two car parks, and a mosque.
The government of Sierra Leone undertook a general upgrade of the terminal in 2010, in order to meet the basic standards of current international airports. The Departure Hall has been commissioned in February 2013. The Arrival Hall has been commissioned in May 2014.
As of September 2014, almost all regional and intercontinental flights to Freetown had been suspended as a result of the 2014 West Africa Ebola virus outbreak. The first airline to resume commercial flights after suspending them was Air Cote d'Ivoire already in October 2014[1] while Air France announced to resume services by June 2015.[2]
Airlines and destinations
Passenger
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Air Côte d'Ivoire | Abidjan, Monrovia |
| Air France | Paris-Charles de Gaulle[3] |
| Arik Air | Accra, Lagos (Begin 23 February 2016)[4] |
| ASKY Airlines | Accra, Lomé, Monrovia-Spriggs Payne[5] (all services suspended)[4] |
| British Airways | London–Heathrow (suspended)[6] |
| Brussels Airlines | Brussels |
| Fly Salone | London–Gatwick |
| Kenya Airways | Accra, Nairobi-Jomo Kenyatta |
| Royal Air Maroc | Casablanca, Monrovia |
Cargo
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Global Africa Aviation | Lagos, Liège, Sharjah[7] |
Ground transportation
Due to the position of the airport on the northern coast of the Freetown estuary, passengers arriving by plane need to use boats to reach the capital. The most popular option is the ferry, but several alternatives flourish over the years like various speedboats. A road going around the estuary has been completed in 2013 an allows now passengers with cars to reach Freetown area in less than 3 hours.
Incidents and accidents
- On August 11, 2004 at around 2:30 p.m. a Boeing 737 plane operated by Air Guinee Express crashed while failing to take off at Lungi Airport. None of the 70 passengers aboard were killed.[8]
- On June 3, 2007, a helicopter flight from Freetown exploded and crashed on landing at Lungi airport, killing all 22 people on board. The helicopter, a Russian Mi-8, was operated by Paramount Airlines, which shuttled passengers between Sierra Leone's coastal capital Freetown and Lungi airport.[9]
References
- ↑ Mieu, Baudelaire (17 October 2014). "Ivory Coast Airline to Resume Flights to Ebola-Affected Nations". Bloomberg.
- ↑ http://ch-aviation.com/portal/news/37380-air-france-to-resume-sierra-leone-services
- ↑ http://corporate.airfrance.com/en/press/press-releases/article/item/air-france-resumes-services-to-freetown-sierra-leone/
- 1 2 "Ebola outbreak: pan-African airline halts flights to west African countries". The Guardian. Agence France-Presse. 30 July 2014. Retrieved 14 August 2014.
- ↑ April 2014 Timetable, http://www.flyasky.com/asky/horaires/fna
- ↑ "BA stops flights to Liberia, Sierra Leone until 2015 over Ebola". Yahoo News. 26 August 2014. Retrieved 28 August 2014.
- ↑ Avient Aviation Schedule from LGG
- ↑ Concord Times, Freetown, August 17, 2004, "Crash Victim Tells Kabbah I Am Totally Disappointed in Your Government"
- ↑ "Helicopter crashes in Sierra Leone, 20 killed". Reuters. 3 June 2007.
External links
Media related to Lungi International Airport at Wikimedia Commons
- A-Z World Airports
- Airport information for GFLL at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
