Goma International Airport is an airport serving

Goma Goma is the capital of North Kivu province in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is located on the northern shore of Lake Kivu, next to the Rwandan city of Gisenyi. The lake and the two cities are in the Albertine Rift, the weste ...

, a city in the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

History

Initially built with a paved 3000 m runway and a large

terminal Terminal may refer to: Computing Hardware * Terminal (electronics), a device for joining electrical circuits together * Terminal (telecommunication), a device communicating over a line * Computer terminal, a set of primary input and output dev ...

and

apron An apron is a garment that is worn over other clothing to cover the front of the body. The word comes from old French ''napron'' meaning a small piece of cloth, however over time "a napron" became "an apron", through a linguistics process cal ...

, the airport has not recovered from the 2002 eruption of the volcano

Nyiragongo Mount Nyiragongo ( ) is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift. It is located inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about north of the town of ...

, 14 km to the north. The airport couldn't handle any wide-bodied aircraft except for freight operations run by relief agencies and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. A stream of fluid

lava Lava is molten or partially molten rock (magma) that has been expelled from the interior of a terrestrial planet (such as Earth) or a moon onto its surface. Lava may be erupted at a volcano or through a fracture in the crust, on land or un ...

200 m by 1000 m wide flowed onto the runway and through the city center as far as the lake shore, covering over the northern 1000 m of the runway and isolating the terminal and apron which were only connected by taxiway to the northern end. The lava can easily be seen in satellite photographs, and aircraft can be seen using the 2000 m southern section of the runway which is clear of lava. A temporary apron was made at the side of the operational part of the runway. A

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 ...

was left stranded on the terminal apron, which is now used by commercial passengers and the military. In December 2012, a contractor began work on cleaning up and fencing in the airport. In February 2017, satellite imagery showed the runway has not yet been repaired where the lava damage occurred. News reports first indicated that lava from the 2021 Mount Nyiragongo eruption reached the airport. It was later confirmed that the airport was unaffected.

Airlines and destinations

Military use

Goma International Airport is used by both the Air Force of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and

MONUSCO The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or MONUSCO, an acronym based on its French name , is a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which was estab ...

peacekeeping Peacekeeping comprises activities intended to create conditions that favour lasting peace. Research generally finds that peacekeeping reduces civilian and battlefield deaths, as well as reduces the risk of renewed warfare. Within the United N ...

forces.

Accidents and incidents

* On 15 April 2008, 2008 Hewa Bora Airways crash, a

Hewa Bora Airways Hewa Bora Airways Sarl (operating as Hewa Bora Airways) was the national airline of the Democratic Republic of the Congo based in Barumbu, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was one of Congo's largest airlines and operated regional ...

McDonnell Douglas DC-9-51 The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas. After ...

(registration 9Q-CHN) overshot the runway during an aborted takeoff and crashed into the marketplace immediately to the south of the airport, killing 3 passengers and 37 people on ground. * On 19 November 2009,

Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation (CAA; African Aviation Company), renamed FlyCAA in 2013, is a regional airline from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, based at N'djili Airport in Kinshasa. It offers an extensive network of domestic scheduled pa ...

Flight 3711, operated by

McDonnell Douglas MD-82 The McDonnell Douglas MD-80 is a series of five-abreast single-aisle airliners developed by McDonnell Douglas. It was produced by the developer company until August 1997 and then by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The MD-80 was the second gener ...

(registration 9Q-CAB) bound from

Kinshasa Kinshasa (; ; ln, Kinsásá), formerly Léopoldville ( nl, Leopoldstad), is the capital and largest city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Once a site of fishing and trading villages situated along the Congo River, Kinshasa is now one o ...

overran the runway on landing, suffering substantial damage. The overrun area was contaminated by solidified

. * On 4 March 2013,

2013 Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation crash On 4 March 2013, a Fokker 50 operated by Compagnie Africaine d'Aviation on a domestic cargo flight from Lodja to Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, crashed in poor weather on approach to Goma Airport. There were nine people on board, of w ...

, a

Fokker 50 The Fokker 50 is a turboprop-powered airliner, designed as an improved version of the successful Fokker F27 Friendship. The Fokker 60 is a stretched freighter version of the Fokker 50. Both aircraft were manufactured and supported by Dutch airc ...

(registration 9Q-CBD) from

Lodja Lodja is a remote town in the Sankuru (formerly Kasaï-Oriental) province in central Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is serviced by the Lodja Airport which is about from town. Lodja is a hub for both rice production in the province and dia ...

crashed short of landing in heavy rain, into a residential area at 17:55 local time. Among the 9 crew and passengers, 6 were killed. * On 24 November 2019, 2019 Busy Bee crash, a 19-seat airplane from local carrier Busy Bee en route to

Beni Airport Beni Airport is an airport serving the city of Beni in Nord-Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The airport is north of Beni, by the town of Mavivi. The Wageni Airport, which is within the city of Beni, is also sometimes called B ...

crashed shortly after takeoff around 9:10 a.m. At least 27 died, including some on the ground.

References

External links