Conakry International Airport
| Conakry International Airport | |||||||||||
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| IATA: CKY – ICAO: GUCY | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Serves | Conakry | ||||||||||
| Location | Conakry, Guinea | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 72 ft / 22 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 09°34′36.80″N 13°36′43.06″W / 9.5768889°N 13.6119611°W | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  CKY Location of Airport in Guinea | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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| Statistics (2009) | |||||||||||
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Conakry International Airport (IATA: CKY, ICAO: GUCY), also known as Gbessia International Airport, is an airport located in Conakry, the capital of the Republic of Guinea in West Africa. It is divided into domestic and international terminals. A number of West African, North African and European airlines serve Conakry.
History
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.[2] 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 France A330 from Paris and a departing Air Senegal International Boeing 737-700 to Dakar.
With a goal to increase annual passenger capacity to 1 million passengers, in 2009 renovations began on the main terminal. The airport currently has 300,000 passengers per year. Renovation costs amounted to 60 billion GNF (Around 85 million EUR).[3] The government debated in 2007 whether to relocate the Conakry Airport to Forecariah, although no official changes have been declared as of 2011.[4] Traditionally passengers embarked on all flights directly on the tarmac with transfers to the airport either by foot (most inter West African flights) 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 (customs and luggage carousels).
Airlines and destinations
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Aigle Azur | Bamako, Paris-Orly |
| Air Côte d'Ivoire | Abidjan |
| Air France | Paris-Charles de Gaulle |
| ASKY Airlines | Abidjan, Bamako, Dakar, Lomé |
| Brussels Airlines | Brussels |
| Emirates | Dubai-International |
| Ethiopian Airlines | Addis Ababa (resumes 1 February 2017)[5] |
| Mauritania Airlines International | Dakar, Nouakchott |
| Royal Air Maroc | Casablanca |
| Turkish Airlines | Istanbul, Ouagadougou (begins 30 January 2017)[6] |
Trivia
- 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.[7]
Incidents
- On 1 July 1983, a CAAK (predecessor to Air Koryo) Ilyushin 62M on a non-scheduled international passenger flight from Pyongyang, North Korea (Sunan International Airport) to Conakry, Guinea (Conakry International Airport) crashed at the Fouta Djall Mountains in Guinea. All 23 persons on board were killed, and the aircraft was written off.
- On 19 November 2000, a now-defunct Ghana Airways McDonnell Douglas DC-9 landed without landing gear in Conakry. The plane was written off.[8]
- On 28 June 2003, a missing Boeing 727-223 N844AA was believed to have been found repainted at the Conakry Airport by Canadian AirServ pilot, Bob Strother. This was dismissed as incorrect.[9]
- In 2003 or 2004, an AirServ Beechcraft King Air 400 landed without front landing gear. Damage was subsequently fixed.
- In 2007, a Guinean Air Force Mig 21 departing from GUCY crashed into the Radio Television Guineenne headquarters. The Russian pilot ejected and was unharmed.[10]
References
- ↑ List of the busiest airports in Africa
- ↑ Harold D. Nelson, Area Handbook for Guinea, Department of the Army Pamphlet 550-174, 1975, p.333
- ↑ Info-Guinée : mountmane. Mountmane.hautetfort.com. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
- ↑ Conakry : Haro sur les bouchons ! | Jeuneafrique.com – le premier site d'information et d'actualité sur l'Afrique. Jeuneafrique.com (5 April 2012). Retrieved 27 June 2012.
- ↑ "Ethiopian resumes Conakry service from Feb 2017". routesonline. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ↑ http://www.turkishairlines.com/en-int/corporate/news/news/turkish-airlines-launches-a-new-route-to-conakry
- ↑ Callimachi, Rukmini (20 July 2007). "Students scrounge for light at Guinea airport". Seattle Times Newspaper. Retrieved 20 July 2007.
- ↑ ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 9G-ADY Conakry Airport (CKY). Aviation-safety.net (13 November 2000). Retrieved 27 June 2012.
- ↑ Astill, James (7 July 2003). "Plane in terrorism scare turns up sporting a respray". The Guardian. London.
- ↑ Crash d'un Mig 21 sur la RTG à Conakry. Panapress.com. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
External links
- Airport information for GUCY at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
- A-Z World Airports