Sierra Leone’s President Julius Maada Bio has officially opened Freetown International Airport’s (FNA) new terminal valued at $270m USD.
Speaking at the ceremony, President Bio described the event day as a great and new day for all Sierra Leoneans, something which he said is the first time in the history of the Country to complete a new International Airport Terminal with the latest technology.
“Today 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”; said President Bio.
The new terminal was built by Turkish construction company Summa to the tune of $270 million under a ‘build, operate and transfer’ contract, which will see it operate the airport for 25 years before handing it off to the Sierra Leone government.
The 14,000-meter square terminal building is three times the size of Freetown International Airport’s existing terminal facility along with arrivals and departures areas for commercial passengers, the VIP/Presidential channel, improved cargo facilities, and a brand-new air traffic control tower built in the shape of a diamond. The terminal is a milestone for Sierra Leone as the first International Terminal to be built since it gained independence in 1961.
According to President Bio operations at the new facility will begin immediately, but rather it takes a couple of months for airlines to transition operations from the old terminal, noting that the old terminal, is likely to be taken over by the Sierra Leone Armed Forces and become the Country’s main air base.
Meanwhile, Sierra Leone’s Minister of Transport and Aviation Kabineh Kallon said, at least three more International Airlines have expressed interest in establishing operations at the airport’s new terminal, adding that the Freetown International Airport has undergone rapid growth in the past two decades, with passenger numbers soaring from 65,000 in 2000 up to 246,000 in 2019.
The terminal could herald the return of Sierra Leone as a key West African hub and drive tourism to the Country, which once enjoyed a reputation as a popular beach gateway in the 1970s and 1980s. Other features at the airport include a sustainable 1.5 megawatt (MW) solar farm powering all of its needs, making it the first fully green terminal facility in West Africa.
