Roberts International Airport
| Roberts International Airport | |||||||||||
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| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Serves | Monrovia, Liberia | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 31 ft / 9 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 06°14′02″N 010°21′44″W / 6.23389°N 10.36222°WCoordinates: 06°14′02″N 010°21′44″W / 6.23389°N 10.36222°W | ||||||||||
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 ROB
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Source: DAFIF
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| Passengers | 133,656 |
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Roberts International Airport (IATA: ROB, ICAO: GLRB), informally also known as Robertsfield, is an international airport in the West African nation of Liberia. Located near the town of Harbel, the single runway airport is about 35 miles (56 km) outside of the nation's capital of Monrovia, and as an origin and destination point is referred to as "Monrovia" and locally is often referred to simply as "RIA." The airport is named in honor of Joseph Jenkins Roberts, the first President of Liberia.
The facility with its 11,000 feet (3,400 m) long runway was an emergency landing site for the United States' Space Shuttle program and is the principal airport in the country and one of only two with paved runways in the nation. The airport is clearly the nation's busiest most important aviation facility, with the only connections to Europe. While Monrovia's secondary airport, Spriggs Payne, is much closer to the city center and possesses the nation's only other paved runway, it has not had scheduled commercial service since ASKY Airlines suspended service in November 2014.
In 1942, Liberia signed a Defense Pact with the United States. This commenced a period of strategic road building and other construction related to US military interests in checking the expansion of the Axis powers. The airport was originally built by the United States government as an Air Force base as part of these activities. The runway was built long enough for B-47 Stratojet bombers to land for refueling, giving Liberia what was for many years the longest runway in Africa. President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States had lunch with President Edwin J. Barclay at Robertsfield visit to Liberia in January 1943.
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