Sierra Leone wishes to attract Airlines With New Freetown Terminal
Under a $270 million build, operate and transfer contract with the Sierra Leone government, Summa, a Turkish construction company, has completed a new 14,000-m² (150,000-ft.2) terminal at Freetown International Airport in Sierra Leone. The new terminal is five times larger than the old one and can accommodate up to eight widebody jets at once. It features a wave-shaped roof and is powered by a 1.5 megawatt solar farm, making it the first fully green airport terminal in West Africa. The airport will begin operations soon, but the transfer from the existing terminal is expected to take several months to complete.
Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio said, “We have an ultramodern air terminal that is three times larger than the existing terminal and has brand new facilities that will accommodate up to a million passengers a year, to make it a major transit hub in the sub-region.” Once Summa completes its 25-year management contract, ownership of the airport will be handed over to the Sierra Leonean government.
Sierra Leone Transport and Aviation Minister Kabineh Kallon said that at least three international airlines have shown interest in landing at this airport. The airport's runway, taxiways, and aprons have recently been resurfaced, and the communication beacons have been modernized. The new terminal also includes improved cargo handling and a new air traffic control tower.
The next stage of development includes a new five-star hotel to attract airlines to overnight their aircraft at the airport because the current facilities do not meet international aircrew requirements. The Sierra Leonean government hopes to revive the country’s tourism industry and position Freetown as a West African aviation hub, attracting scheduled and charter flights to the UK and European capitals.
Passenger numbers have increased from 65,000 to 246,000 between 2000 and 2019, despite the shocks of the 1991-2002 civil war, Ebola in 2014, and COVID-19 in 2020. The airport is located in Lungi, a coastal town. Passengers need to cross the Sierra Leone River by boat, which takes about 40 minutes to get to Freetown, the capital city.
Stakeholders noted, “The country’s Atlantic coastline, especially along the Freetown peninsula only a short drive from the capital city, offers some of the most pristine tropical beaches in the world, as well as low-lying islands with huge potential for high-value, low-volume destination-marketing development.” The old building, which was built by the UK Royal Air Force in the 1940s, will likely become Sierra Leone’s military air operations headquarters. This is the first international passenger facility to be built in Sierra Leone since the country gained independence in April 1961
