Banjul International Airport

Banjul International Airport, also known as Yundum International (IATA: BJL, ICAO: GBYD), is the international airport of Banjul, capital of the Gambia, built during World War II.[1]

Banjul International Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
ServesBanjul
LocationBanjul, Gambia
Elevation AMSL29 m / 95 ft
Coordinates13°20′16.66″N 16°39′07.94″W
Map
BJL
Location of airport in Gambia
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
14/32 3,600 11,811 Asphalt

History

The only airport in Gambia is at Yundum. After World War II, Yundum airport was used for passenger flights. Both British South American Airways and the British Overseas Airways Corporation had services, the former moving its service to Dakar, which had a concrete runway (as opposed to pierced steel planking).[2] The airport was rebuilt in 1963 and the building is still in use today.

Overview

The head office of the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority is located on the airport property.[3]

In the event of an emergency on any of the NASA Space Shuttles, Banjul International Airport had been selected as an augmented landing site. Gambia was the perfect location when the shuttle was launched with a low, 28-degree inclination.[4][5] In 2001 NASA announced that Banjul airport would no longer be used as an augmented landing site because latterly, NASA would launch shuttles up at 51.6 degrees to the International Space Station, making air bases in Spain and France more suitable for an emergency landing.[6]

The airport was the main hub of Gambia Bird until the airline ceased operations in late 2014.

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Air Peace Dakar–Diass, Freetown, Lagos
Air Senegal Bissau,[7] Dakar–Diass[8]
Arik Air Accra, Lagos
ASKY Airlines Accra, Freetown, Lomé
Binter Canarias Gran Canaria
Brussels Airlines Brussels, Dakar–Diass
Corendon Dutch Airlines Seasonal: Amsterdam, Maastricht/Aachen[9]
Enter Air Seasonal charter: Birmingham,[10] Manchester[10]
Guinea Airlines Conakry,[11] Dakar–Diass[11]
Royal Air Maroc Casablanca
Smartwings Slovakia Seasonal charter: Bratislava[12]
Sunclass Airlines Seasonal charter: Copenhagen,[13] Helsinki,[14] Stockholm–Arlanda,[15] Oslo–Gardermoen[16]
TAP Air Portugal Lisbon[17]
Titan Airways Seasonal charter: London–Gatwick[10]
Transair Dakar–Diass, Freetown[18]
TUI Airways[19] Seasonal: Birmingham (begins 1 November 2020),[20] London–Gatwick (begins 3 November 2020),[20] Manchester (begins 1 November 2020)[20]
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels
TUI fly Netherlands Amsterdam
Turkish Airlines Istanbul
Vueling Barcelona

Accidents and incidents
  • On 4 July 1946, a Bristol Freighter 170 with registration G-AHJB, flying from Bathurst (now Banjul) to Natal on a delivery flight to Argentina, experienced a fuel shortage that forced the crew to ditch the plane. The crewmembers were rescued by an American Steamer. The probable cause was powerplant failure resulting from shortage of fuel due to faulty navigation. No one died in the accident.[21]
  • On 7 September 1946, a British South American Airways Avro 685 York I with registration G-AHEW, named "Star Leader", flying from London to Buenos Aires via Lisbon, Bathurst (Banjul)-Jeshwang, Natal, Rio de Janeiro-Santos Dumont and Montevideo, lost control and crashed shortly after takeoff from Bathurst. The cause of the loss of control cannot be determined with certainty, but a mishandling of the controls by the captain is the most likely explanation. All 24 occupants died.[22][23][24]
  • On 10 October 1997, a Beechcraft 200 Super King Air[25] operated by NAYSA Aerotaxis[26] crashed on approach 3 miles before the runway. All but one of the ten occupants died.

See also

References
  1. "Yundum". Britannica Online encyclopedia. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  2. "West Africa (Hansard, 29 January 1947)". api.parliament.uk.
  3. "APPLICATION FOR A FLIGHT PERMIT." (Archive) Gambia Civil Aviation Authority. Retrieved on 28 January 2013. "THE GAMBIA CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY BANJUL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT P.O. BOX 285 BANJUL, THE GAMBIA"
  4. "SPACE SHUTTLE EMERGENCY LANDING SITES". globalsecurity.org. 20 July 2011. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  5. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 22 July 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  6. Lacey, Marc (4 September 2005). "Memories Linger Where NASA Lights Shone in Gambia". The New York Times.
  7. Liu, Jim (17 October 2019). "Addendum: Air Senegal continues Africa network expansion in W19". routesonline.com.
  8. "Air Senegal EN » Arrivals and departures". flyairsenegal.com.
  9. "Corendon". www.corendon.com.
  10. "Flight Information". gambia.co.uk.
  11. 2018, UBM (UK) Ltd. "Asky Airlines files Guinea network from December 2018".CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. "Bratislava airport introduces several new flights in its winter schedule". spectator.sme.sk.
  13. "Flight". spies.dk.
  14. "Flight". tjareborg.fi.
  15. "Flight". ving.se.
  16. "Flight". ving.no.
  17. "TAP launches flights to Banjul, The Gambia, in October". 25 May 2019.
  18. "Vol inaugural : Transair à la conquête de la Sierra Leone". dakaractu.com. 18 November 2019.
  19. "Flight Timetable". tui.co.uk.
  20. "Tui is adding new flights to Cuba and Gambia – two destinations previously served by former rival Thomas Cook". ttgmedia.com. 28 November 2019.
  21. "Accident description G-AHJB". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  22. "Accident description G-AHEW". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  23. "23 Killed in Crash of Plane in Africa". Pittsburgh Press. 7 September 1946. p. 1.
  24. B.S.A.A. York which crashed soon after take-off at night from Yundum airfield on September 7th, 1946, Access August 2011
  25. Beechcraft 200 Super King Air
  26. NAYSA Aerotaxis
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