Conakry International Airport, also known as Gbessia International Airport, is an airport serving Conakry, capital of the Republic of Guinea in West Africa. It parallels the south shore of the Kaloum Peninsula approximately five kilometers from its tip. Autoroute Fidel Castro connects the airport to Conakry proper. The airport is divided into domestic and international terminals. A number of West African, North African and European airlines serve Conakry. The Conakry VOR/DME and Conakry non-directional beacon are located on the field.
History
The airport was built in 1945. In the 1970s, Soviet Naval Aviation was granted facilities at the airport to serve as a staging base for Atlantic maritime reconnaissance patrols by Tu-95RTs aircraft. It was reported in 1975 that most of the Guinean air force's aircraft were based at Conakry-Gbessia Airport. Current air force operations are conducted out of the Conakry-Gbessia Airport. All non-ECOWAS foreigners are required to have a valid Guinean visa and a vaccination card in order to be granted entry. Yellow fever vaccination cards are verified upon entry into the country at Gbessia. As of 2010, the airport possesses no radar and guides all planes in by sight. Night flights by European airlines require pilots to do a fly over of the runway following a near miss of a landing Air FranceA330 from Paris and a departing Air Senegal International Boeing 737-700 to Dakar. In 2009, with a goal to increase annual passenger capacity to 1 million passengers, renovations began on the main terminal. Renovation costs amounted to 60 billion GNF. The government debated in 2007 whether to relocate the Conakry Airport to Forecariah, although no official changes have been declared, as of 2011. Traditionally, passengers embarked on all flights directly on the tarmac with transfers to the airport either by foot or by buses for all European flights. The new renovations included gateways and an improved passenger departure lounge. As of January 2011, no changes have been made to the arrivals. The airport, as of 2012, has 360,000+ passengers per year.
Airlines and destinations
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Student use for exam preparation
The airport parking lot is also a popular destination for students preparing for exams, as it is one of the few places in the country which is freely accessible to the public and always illuminated by electric lamps.
On 28 June 2003, a missing Boeing 727-223N844AA was believed to have been found repainted at the Conakry Airport by Canadian AirServ pilot, Bob Strother. This was dismissed as incorrect.
