Lungi International Airport | |||||||||||
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Summary | |||||||||||
Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
Serves | Freetown and the entire Sierra Leone | ||||||||||
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 | |||||||||||
Location within Sierra Leone | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Statistics (2009) | |||||||||||
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Passengers | 167,911 |
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Freetown International Airport (IATA: FNA, ICAO: GFLL) (officially), locally known as Lungi International Airport, is an international airport located in the coastal town of Lungi, Sierra Leone. It is the only international airport in 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. In 2012 its management was contracted out to the British security and military company Westminster Aviation Security Services Ltd.
The terminal building of the airport is 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 lounges for business class passengers and VIPs. The Arrivals wing has a customs hall with a money exchange offices, 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 was commissioned in February 2013. The arrival hall was commissioned in May 2014.
From September 2014, almost all regional and intercontinental flights to Freetown were suspended as a result of the 2014 West Africa Ebola virus outbreak. During this crisis, Brussels Airlines was the only carrier to maintain its regular operations to the airport; catering almost exclusively to NGO health workers. The first airline to resume commercial flights after suspending them was Air Cote d'Ivoire in October 2014 while Air France announced to resume services by June 2015. British Airways chose not to resume flights to Sierra Leone. A national airline Fly Salone operated briefly at the start of 2016.