Roberts International Airport
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Roberts International Airport , informally also known as ''Robertsfield'', is an
international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...
in the
West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...
n nation of
Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...
. Located near the town of Harbel in
Margibi County Margibi is a county on the north to central coast of Liberia. One of 15 counties that constitute the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has five districts. Kakata serves as the capital with the area of the county measuring ...
, the single
runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt concrete, as ...
airport is about outside of the nation's capital of
Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...
, and as an origin and destination point is referred to as "Monrovia" and locally is often referred to simply as "RIA." The airport is named in honor of
Joseph Jenkins Roberts Joseph Jenkins Roberts (March 15, 1809 – February 24, 1876) was an African-American merchant who emigrated to Liberia in 1829, where he became a politician. Elected as the first (1848–1856) and seventh (1872–1876) president of Lib ...
, the first
President of Liberia The president of the Republic of Liberia is the head of state and government of Liberia. The president serves as the leader of the executive branch and as commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Liberia. Prior to the independence of Liberia ...
. The airport is the nation's busiest and most important aviation facility, currently hosting the country's only scheduled commercial airline services, with direct connections to several major cities in West Africa as well as flights to Europe on
Brussels Airlines Brussels Airlines is the flag carrier and largest airline of Belgium, based and headquartered at Brussels Airport. It operates to over 100 destinations in Europe, North America and Africa and also offers charter services, maintenance and crew ...
. The airport reportedly served 228,000 passengers annually in 2018 and recently underwent a major expansion, including the opening of a new passenger terminal. The facility with its long runway was an emergency landing site for the United States'
Space Shuttle program The Space Shuttle program was the fourth human spaceflight program carried out by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which accomplished routine transportation for Earth-to-orbit crew and cargo from 1981 to 2011. Its ...
and is one of only two with paved runways in the country. While Monrovia's secondary airport, Spriggs Payne, is much closer to the city center and possesses the nation's only other paved runway, it has not had scheduled commercial service since
ASKY Airlines ASKY Airlines is a private multinational passenger airline serving West and Central Africa, with its head office in Lomé, Togo and its hub at Gnassingbé Eyadéma International Airport. The airline is a strategic partner of Ethiopian Airlines, ...
suspended service in November 2014.


History


Early years

In 1942, Liberia signed a Defense Pact with the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. This commenced a period of strategic road building and other construction related to
US military The United States Armed Forces are the Military, military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six Military branch, service branches: the United States Army, Army, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps, United States N ...
interests in checking the expansion of the
Axis powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
. The airport was originally built by the U.S. government as an
Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
base as part of these activities. The runway was built long enough for
B-47 Stratojet The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long-range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraft ...
bombers to land for refueling, giving Liberia what was for many years the longest runway in Africa. U.S. President
Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
had lunch with President Edwin J. Barclay at Roberts Field during his visit to Liberia in January 1943. From 1943 to the end of World War II in 1945, Roberts Field Airport, as it was then known, served as an alternative base for a contingent of 26 Squadron SAAF which flew
Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its g ...
bombers on anti-submarine (U-Boat) and convoy escort patrols over the Atlantic. Their main base was at
Takoradi Sekondi-Takoradi is a city in Ghana comprising the twin cities of Sekondi and Takoradi. It is the capital of Sekondi – Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly and the Western Region of Ghana. Sekondi-Takoradi is the region's largest city and an indu ...
, in the
Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...
.


Pre-war commercial era

The story of Robertsfield is consistently intertwined with the history of
Pan American World Airways Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
. In fact, from the end of World War II until 1985, the airport was administered and operated by Pan American under contract with the Republic of Liberia's Ministry of Transport. Monrovia was consistently a key link in Pan American's African network, usually an intermediate stop between
Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...
and
Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
, from which service continued onward to Europe and New York.title=Government of Liberia History of Roberts International Airport
In the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, the airport became
Pan Am Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and commonly known as Pan Am, was an American airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States ...
's principal African hub, with a nonstop
Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...
service from
New York JFK John F. Kennedy International Airport (colloquially referred to as JFK Airport, Kennedy Airport, New York-JFK, or simply JFK) is the main international airport serving New York City. The airport is the busiest of the seven airports in the Ne ...
connecting at Robertsfield to such destinations as
Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
,
Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...
,
Abidjan Abidjan ( , ; N'Ko script, N’ko: ߊߓߌߖߊ߲߬) is the economic capital of the Ivory Coast. As of the Demographics of Ivory Coast, 2021 census, Abidjan's population was 6.3 million, which is 21.5 percent of overall population of the country, ...
,
Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...
, and
Conakry Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its p ...
, among others, and continuing on to
Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
and even at times
Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
, so that for many years virtually every Pan Am passenger to Africa passed through Robertsfield. Pan Am's presence diminished during the 1980s, as Pan Am's African network was slowly pulled down. Pan Am ended its management of the airport in 1985 but as late as 1986 the airport was still a stop on the JFK-Dakar-Monrovia-Lagos-Nairobi route. By 1987, Pan Am was no longer serving Monrovia at all. A number of European airlines also served the airport from the mid-1960s to the mid-1980s, including
British Caledonian Airways British Caledonian (BCal) was a British private independent airline which operated out of Gatwick Airport in south-east England during the 1970s and 1980s. It was created as an alternative to the British government-controlled corporation airlin ...
with
Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...
s,
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij Naamloze vennootschap, N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with i ...
with
Douglas DC-8 The Douglas DC-8 (sometimes McDonnell Douglas DC-8) is a long-range narrow-body airliner built by the American Douglas Aircraft Company. After losing the May 1954 US Air Force tanker competition to the Boeing KC-135, Douglas announced in Ju ...
s and
Sabena The ''Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne'' (French; ), better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its ba ...
,
Swissair Swissair AG/ S.A. (German: Schweizerische Luftverkehr-AG; French: S.A. Suisse pour la Navigation Aérienne) was the national airline of Switzerland between its founding in 1931 and bankruptcy in 2002. It was formed from a merger between Bal ...
and UTA with these three air carriers all operating
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, ...
s into Robertsfield. Scandinavian Airline System also served Monrovia, from
Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...
. In the mid-1970s this service consisted of a weekly flight via Düsseldorf and Madrid and a second weekly flight via
Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...
, then onward to South America: Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, and Santiago de Chile. Similarly,
VARIG VARIG (acronym for Viação Aérea RIo-Grandense, ''Rio Grandean Airways'') was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990, it was Brazil's leading airline, and virtually its only international one. In 2005, Varig went ...
employed RIA as a stop on its flights between Brazil and Europe, which began in the mid-1960s and lasted at least until the mid-1970s, with various routings including
Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
-Monrovia-Rome and Rio-Monrovia-Madrid-Rome. VARIG's Flight between Rome and Rio crashed at Monrovia in March 1967, and remains the worst aviation accident in Liberia to this day. As with Pan Am, several African flag carriers utilized Robertsfield as a waystation on transatlantic routes. As early as 1966,
Nigeria Airways Nigeria Airways Ltd., more commonly known as Nigeria Airways, was a Nigerian airline. The company was founded in 1958 after the dissolution of West African Airways Corporation (WAAC). It held the name West African Airways Corporation Nigeria ( ...
began a codeshare cooperation on Pan Am's flights to New York-JFK from Lagos via Monrovia, and in later decades Monrovia remained a stop on its weekly services to New York, at most times utilizing its own
McDonnell Douglas DC-10 The McDonnell Douglas DC-10 is an American trijet wide-body aircraft manufactured by McDonnell Douglas. The DC-10 was intended to succeed the DC-8 for long-range flights. It first flew on August 29, 1970; it was introduced on August 5, 1971, ...
. This also included for a time a weekly Monrovia-
Port of Spain Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...
-
Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...
flight. Until 1983,
Air Afrique Air Afrique was a Pan-Africanism, Pan-African airline, that was mainly owned by many West African countries for most of its history. It was established as the official transnationalism, transnational Air carrier, carrier for francophone West Af ...
's DC-10s also stopped at Robertsfield on that airline's Abidjan-Monrovia-Dakar-New York services. Likewise,
Zambia Airways Zambia Airways is the flag carrier of the Republic of Zambia. The airline is based in Lusaka, Zambia with its hub at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport. Originally, the airlines was founded in April 1964, however was liquidated by the gover ...
made two stops per week at RIA on the way to New York-JFK from
Lusaka Lusaka (; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was ab ...
, a service which commenced in April 1988 with a DC-10 and lasted until 1992. In the past, Roberts Airport was listed as an alternative landing site for
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
's
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. Its official program na ...
.


Post-war redevelopment

During the
Second Liberian Civil War The Second Liberian Civil War was a conflict in the West African nation of Liberia lasted from 1999 to 2003. It was preceded by the First Liberian Civil War, which ended in 1996. President Charles Taylor came to power in 1997 after victory in t ...
, the main terminal building suffered major damage, and remains vacant and unenclosed. Currently, the terminal facilities consist of two passenger buildings, one for departures by most commercial carriers and all arrivals, and a second, Terminal B, opened in March 2012, and in its first two years was reserved exclusively for departures by
Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
and
Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...
. Other airside buildings are primarily used by the United Nations, with a VIP facility adjacent to the original, unused terminal. After the end of the
civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...
in 2003, commercial air service was slow to return to Liberia, and only gathered momentum after the inauguration of President
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Ellen Johnson Sirleaf (born Ellen Eugenia Johnson, 29 October 1938) is a Liberian politician who served as the 24th president of Liberia from 2006 to 2018. Sirleaf was the first elected female head of state in Africa. Sirleaf was born in Mon ...
in January 2006. Royal Air Maroc started flights to Mohamed V International Airport in November 2007, and
Virgin Nigeria Air Nigeria (originally Virgin Nigeria Airways, and then Nigerian Eagle Airlines) was the national flag carrier of Nigeria, which operated scheduled regional and domestic passenger services. The airline's base was Murtala Mohammed International ...
added Monrovia to its network, from Lagos via Accra twice per week, in October 2008. Also in October 2008 U.S. carrier
Delta Air Lines Delta Air Lines, Inc., typically referred to as Delta, is one of the major airlines of the United States and a legacy carrier. One of the List of airlines by foundation date, world's oldest airlines in operation, Delta is headquartered in Atla ...
announced that, as part of a major expansion of its route network in Africa, it would begin a once-weekly service between
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
and Monrovia, via Sal, Cape Verde. The proposed service would have commenced in June 2009, utilizing a
Boeing 757-200 The Boeing 757 is an American Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner designed and built by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The then-named 7N7, a twinjet successor for the Boeing 727, 727 (a trijet), received its first orders in August 1978. ...
configured for
ETOPS ETOPS () is an acronym for ''Extended-range Twin-engine Operations Performance Standards''—a special part of flight rules for one-engine-inoperative flight conditions. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) coined the acronym for ...
operations in a two-class configuration. The news marked the return of an American carrier and direct flights to the United States for the first time since Pan Am's withdrawal, and would make RIA one of only a handful of African airports with service to the US, so was therefore seen as a major step in the recovery of not just the airport, but Liberia itself. The route was revised in May to originate from New York's JFK and connect via
Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...
, beginning on 9 June, Monday, and returning every Tuesday. One week prior to the inaugural flight, Delta announced that its planned launch would be suspended indefinitely. It was reported widely that the carrier had been denied permission by the
Transportation Security Administration The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that has authority over the security of transportation systems within, and connecting to the United States. It was created ...
due to a lack of acceptable security standards at Robertsfield. Neither Delta nor the TSA issued any further explanation. However, Cynthia B. Nash, a prominent Atlanta businesswoman, stated in an interview coinciding with her appointment as Liberia's Honorary Consul in August 2009 that she expected Roberts International to upgrade its security to meet TSA standards and for the Delta to launch the flight "within the year." Coinciding with these comments, it was reported in the Liberian press that a division of
Lockheed Martin The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It ...
was to take over management of Robertsfield. On 5 September 2010, Delta launched once weekly flights between Atlanta and Monrovia; with a stop in
Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...
. In January 2011, Delta Air Lines increased flights to twice a week (Sundays and Wednesdays). By mid-2012, Delta operated a
Boeing 767-300 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...
thrice-weekly to and from New York-JFK, while maintaining the stop in Accra. In April 2011,
Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...
launched a twice-weekly
Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...
service to and from Paris CDG, initially as an extension of its services to
Conakry Conakry (; ; sus, Kɔnakiri; N’ko: ߞߐߣߊߞߙߌ߫, Fula: ''Konaakiri'' 𞤑𞤮𞤲𞤢𞥄𞤳𞤭𞤪𞤭) is the capital and largest city of Guinea. A port city, it serves as the economic, financial and cultural centre of Guinea. Its p ...
and later paired with a stop in Freetown.
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
was the next airline to launch new service to Monrovia, commencing twice-weekly flights from
London Heathrow Heathrow Airport (), called ''London Airport'' until 1966 and now known as London Heathrow , is a major international airport in London, England. It is the largest of the six international airports in the London airport system (the others bei ...
to RIA as an extension of the London-Freetown flights that BA had taken over from its merger with BMI. The service began in November 2012 with a B767-300ER. As a result of these developments, throughout 2013 Roberts International Airport offered passengers same-plane service to Atlanta, Brussels, London and Paris more than once per week. Daily commercial traffic peaked in this year, with one or two daily arrivals. The busiest and most frequent connection was to
Accra Accra (; tw, Nkran; dag, Ankara; gaa, Ga or ''Gaga'') is the capital and largest city of Ghana, located on the southern coast at the Gulf of Guinea, which is part of the Atlantic Ocean. As of 2021 census, the Accra Metropolitan District, , ...
, with four airlines providing at least one flight per day on the route, which for a time made it the third-busiest connection from Accra and one of the top 15 route pairs in West and Central Africa, although service on the route has diminished in 2012 with the end of Air Mali's unsuccessful
Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on t ...
-Monrovia-Accra service and the demise of
Air Nigeria Air Nigeria (originally Virgin Nigeria Airways, and then Nigerian Eagle Airlines) was the national flag carrier of Nigeria, which operated scheduled regional and domestic passenger services. The airline's base was Murtala Mohammed International ...
, which for several years had flown from Lagos to Monrovia via Accra five times per week. In October 2012, start-up airline Gambia Bird commenced twice-weekly non-stop services between
Banjul Banjul (,"Banjul"
(US) and
), officially the City of Ba ...
and Robertsfield with an
Airbus A319 The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body, commercial passenger Twinjet, twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a ...
. This service was later expanded to include multi-week flights to Accra and Freetown, and by mid-2014 Gambia Bird had offered the most destinations from Robertsfield of any airline, with same-plane service to Lagos, Douala and Dakar. Also in early 2014, Air Côte d'Ivoire added a service from Abidjan to Freetown via Roberts International.


Decline of service and effects of Ebola crisis

A decline in global prices for commodities such as gold, iron ore and oil began in 2013 and 2014, causing an immediate slowdown of Liberia's extractive-dependent economy, which in turn pressured the viability of the many new intercontinental services from Robertsfield. The first major blow to the airport's renaissance came in late June 2014, when Air France scrapped its flight to Liberia, citing lack of profitability. An even bigger loss to the airport in terms of capacity, connectivity and prestige came when Delta Air Lines announced that, after nearly four years of service, it would cease flights to Monrovia on 31 August 2014 due to weak passenger demand. Within the same month that the last Delta jet departed Liberia, most scheduled flights, including those of
British Airways British Airways (BA) is the flag carrier airline of the United Kingdom. It is headquartered in London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a populati ...
,
Kenya Airways Kenya Airways Ltd., more commonly known as Kenya Airways, is the flag carrier airline of Kenya. The company was founded in 1977, after the dissolution of East African Airways. Its head office is located in Embakasi, Nairobi, with its hub at Jo ...
, Air Côte d'Ivoire,
Arik Air Arik Air is a Nigerian airline operating mainly from two hubs at Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Lagos and Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport in Abuja. Arik Air's head office is the ''Arik Air Aviation Center'' on the grounds of Mu ...
, and Gambia Bird were suspended due to the rapidly-spreading Ebola outbreak. Royal Air Maroc and Brussels Airlines both remained flying through the crisis, albeit with reduced schedules. British Airways and Delta have not resumed service to Monrovia since that time. Gambia Bird subsequently ceased operations entirely, in large part because of the downturn in air travel across West Africa due to Ebola. The first airline to return service to Robertsfield was Air Côte d'Ivoire, in October 2014. Kenya Airways returned thereafter, resuming its Nairobi-Accra-Monrovia flights in January 2015 after the Kenyan Ministry of Health lifted its restrictions. In September 2015, Brussels Airlines brought back more frequencies to its Monrovia service, doubling weekly flights from its twice-weekly low during the Ebola crisis back to four per week, similar to its pre-Ebola capacity. Although Air France did not resume its connection to Paris, its subsidiary
KLM KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, legally ''Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij N.V.'' (literal translation: Royal Aviation Company Plc.), is the flag carrier airline of the Netherlands. KLM is headquartered in Amstelveen, with its hub at nearby Amste ...
announced in October 2016 that it would return to Monrovia for the first time in decades, with a thrice-weekly
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
Freetown Freetown is the capital and largest city of Sierra Leone. It is a major port city on the Atlantic Ocean and is located in the Western Area of the country. Freetown is Sierra Leone's major urban, economic, financial, cultural, educational and p ...
—Monrovia service using an
Airbus A330 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body aircraft developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus conceived several derivatives of the A300, its first airliner in the mid-1970s. Then the company began development on the A330 twinjet in parallel with the A340 ...
. KLM's flights began in March 2017, but lasted less than two years, as in October 2018 KLM announced the closure of the service in January 2019. This reduction once again left Brussels Airlines as the only intercontinental connection out of Liberia, until Air France announced in November 2019 that it intended to extend its daily Paris—
Bamako Bamako ( bm, ߓߡߊ߬ߞߐ߬ ''Bàmakɔ̌'', ff, 𞤄𞤢𞤥𞤢𞤳𞤮 ''Bamako'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mali, with a 2009 population of 1,810,366 and an estimated 2022 population of 2.81 million. It is located on t ...
flights onto Monrovia, which, after a delay due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, finally began in November 2020 utilizing an
Airbus A350 The Airbus A350 is a long-range, wide-body twin-engine jet airliner developed and produced by Airbus. The first A350 design proposed by Airbus in 2004, in response to the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, would have been a development of the A330 wi ...
and stopping in Bamako in both directions. Air France terminated its connection to Monrovia in April 2022.


Facility upgrade and expansion

Robertsfield's small, single-story terminals, in use since the end of the Civil War, were often overcrowded and did not conform to modern aviation standards, nor meet with the requirements set by the
ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO, ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international a ...
. In addition, the poor condition of RIA's single runway had been recognized as inadequate since at least 2012, when an Air France flight from Paris suffered significant damage to its landing gear, brakes and hydraulic systems during an arrival on the patched and potholed asphalt, an incident which cost as much as half a million dollars to the airline's plane and was cited as a contributing factor to the airline's decision to end service to Liberia . The renovation project launched in 2018 completely overhauled nearly every aspect of the airport to meet international civil aviation regulations and allow for expanded passenger and cargo operations. The previous tarmac apron was expanded to . New car parking facilities and access roads were added to the landside area, while water supply sewage treatment, electrical and communication systems were also upgraded, adding new fire-fighting equipment and other safety systems, as well as mobile equipment including forklifts, ambulances, conveyor belt loaders, in addition to passenger stairs and buses for remote stand deplaning. The new 5,000m² two-level main passenger facility salvaged the structure of the airport's original terminal, which had been destroyed during the Civil War and sat burnt-out and vacant for nearly 15 years. It is designed to handle 320,000 passengers per year. The ground floor features a departures hall with check-in desks and security screening, and an arrivals hall baggage handling, baggage claim with international-standard luggage carousels as well as a waiting area to greet passengers. The upper level is a departures gallery with retail spaces and a business lounge. One of the most notable features of the new passenger terminal are the two jetway contact bridges—a first in the airport's history. The total project funding was reported to be US$80m—the new passenger terminal costing $50m, while the runway refurbishment was completed at a cost of $30m. China's Export-Import (EXIM) Bank financed the new terminal project through a 22-month, $49.8m concessional loan, whereas the runway refurbishment was financed by $20m from the Saudi Fund for Development, $10m from the Arab Bank for Economic Development for Africa, and $3m from the Government of Liberia. In November 2014, the European Investment Bank (EIB) agreed to provide a $27.3m loan over a period of 20 years to the Liberian government in support the rehabilitation project at the RIA. This contract was finalised in February 2015. Construction commenced in a formal groundbreaking ceremony held in September 2016. The new two-story terminal was officially dedicated by President Sirleaf in December 2017, although the building would not be commissioned and put into actual passenger use for another 18 months. In September 2018, the Liberia Airport Authority announced that commercial airline operations were not expected to move into the new building before the end of 2018. President George Weah re-dedicated the new terminal in a ceremony on July 24, 2019, and passenger flights began limited use of the new facilities thereafter, although the two passenger jet bridges were not initially operational. The new terminal was fully operational by September 2019, including the jet bridges and the new business class lounge.


Airlines and destinations

The following airlines offer scheduled passenger flights at Roberts International Airport :


Accidents and incidents

*On 3 February 1944 a 26 Squadron SAAF Vickers Wellington Bomber (HZ524) trying to land at Roberts Field in darkness and fog overshot the runway and hit a tree. The burned-out remains were found 4 kilometres from the airfield. All crew members perished. They were: DHG Lawrence, DE McNab, IV Rowe, P Cronin, WR Scott, RLB Fillis and DC Long, Air Mechanics ER Andrews & FB Sundstrom. *On 5 March 1967, a
Varig VARIG (acronym for Viação Aérea RIo-Grandense, ''Rio Grandean Airways'') was the first airline founded in Brazil, in 1927. From 1965 until 1990, it was Brazil's leading airline, and virtually its only international one. In 2005, Varig went ...
Douglas DC-8-33 registration PP-PEA operating flight 837 from Rome-Fiumicino to Monrovia caught fire after a mistaken approach to Monrovia, missing the threshold of the runway by 6,023 ft. Of the 90 passengers and crew aboard 51 died as well as 5 on the ground. *On 19 April 1975, an Air Liberia
Douglas C-47 The Douglas C-47 Skytrain or Dakota (Royal Air Force, RAF, Royal Australian Air Force, RAAF, Royal Canadian Air Force, RCAF, Royal New Zealand Air Force, RNZAF, and South African Air Force, SAAF designation) is a airlift, military transport ai ...
A registration EL-AAB was damaged beyond economic repair in a take-off accident. All 25 people on board survived.


See also

*
List of airports in Liberia This is a list of airports in Liberia, sorted by location. __TOC__ Airports Airport names shown in bold indicate the airport has scheduled service on commercial airlines. See also * Transport in Liberia * List of airports by ICAO code: G ...


References


External links


Roberts International Airport
at GlobalSecurity.org * – TLC Africa * * {{authority control Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command on the South Atlantic Route Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Airports in Liberia Airports established in 1942 Margibi County 1942 establishments in Liberia Roberts family (Liberia) Space Shuttle Emergency Landing Sites