Commentary
By Victor Ako Mengot, former Air Traffic Control Personnel, Lungi International Airport
The purpose of the new airport in Sierra Leone is to attract more airlines so that it can be a transit hub. We shouldn’t be surprised if Turkish Airline decides to use this facility as a transit hub for their Africa and North America operations.
Talking about quality hotels. This is one of the reasons that British Airways did not operate in Freetown because they need proper hotels and hospitality facilities for crew changes. At the moment, Air France uses Conakry and SN Brussels, which does the same in Monrovia.
We also hope that the new management will market the airport internationally to attract more airlines to Freetown.
It is ironic that when I was an Air Traffic Controller at Lungi Airport in the late 1970s, we had more airlines operating then than at present. I will attempt to name them for the record.
• British Caledonian
• UTA
• Air Afrique
,• Aeroflot
• Czechokoslovakia Air Services
• Cubana
• Lufthansa
• Middle East Airlines and later Air Jordan
• Nigeria Airways
• Ghana Airways
• Air Guinee
• Air Mali
• Redcoat Air Services
• PanAm passing through to Liberia
• Sierra Leone Airways for domestic flights
Talking about surface access, we had these ferries operated by Sierra Leone Ferry Services running at a 30-minute interval from Tagrin to Kissy Ferry Terminal serving Airport workers, market traders; and international passengers
• MV Mahera
• MV Tasso
• MV Pompoli
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