Banjul International Airport

Banjul International Airport, also known as Yundum International (IATA: BJL, ICAO: GBYD), is the international airport of Banjul, capital of 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 is located in The Gambia
BJL
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.

Zambia Airways launched service from Lusaka to New York via Banjul in December 1990.[3] The airline flew the route with a McDonnell Douglas DC-10. Financial difficulties forced the carrier to suspend it three months later.[4][5][6] In February 2001, Ghana Airways commenced a flight from Banjul to Baltimore, which originated in Accra. Cooperation among Ghana Airways, Gambia International Airlines, and the Ghanaian and Gambian governments had given rise to the service.[7] In June 2006, North American Airlines inaugurated a link to Baltimore using Boeing 767s; the route lasted seven months.[8][9][10]

Overview

The head office of the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority is located on the airport property.[11]

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.[12][13] In 2001 NASA announced that Banjul airport would no longer be used as an augmented landing site because future shuttle launches would take place at inclinations of up at 51.6 degrees to reach the International Space Station, making air bases in Spain and France more suitable for an emergency landing.[14]

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

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Air Senegal Bissau,[15] Dakar–Diass[16]
ASKY Airlines Accra, Freetown, Lomé, Monrovia–Roberts
Binter Canarias Gran Canaria
Brussels Airlines Brussels, Dakar–Diass
Corendon Dutch Airlines Seasonal: Amsterdam[17]
Royal Air Maroc Casablanca
Smartwings Slovakia Seasonal charter: Bratislava[18]
Sunclass Airlines Seasonal charter: Copenhagen,[19] Helsinki,[20] Stockholm–Arlanda,[21] Oslo[22]
TAP Air Portugal Lisbon[23]
Transair Dakar–Diass, Freetown[24]
TUI Airways[25] Seasonal: London–Gatwick,[26] Manchester[26]
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels
TUI fly Netherlands Amsterdam
Turkish Airlines Istanbul, Nouakchott
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.[27]
  • 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.[28][29][30]
  • On 10 October 1997, a Beechcraft 200 Super King Air[31] operated by NAYSA Aerotaxis[32] crashed on approach 3 miles before the runway. All but one of the ten occupants died.

See also

References
  1. "Yundum". Britannica Online encyclopedia. Archived from the original on 6 April 2012. Retrieved 10 August 2012.
  2. "West Africa (Hansard, 29 January 1947)". api.parliament.uk. Archived from the original on 9 July 2019. Retrieved 9 July 2019.
  3. McArthur, Douglas (26 December 1990). "Travel Advisory: Gambia–Zambia Linkup". The Globe and Mail. ProQuest 385552611.
  4. McArthur, Douglas (13 March 1991). "Travel Advisory: Zambia Flights Halted". The Globe and Mail. ProQuest 385495641.
  5. "News in Brief". Flight International: 10. 13–19 March 1991. Archived from the original on 16 December 2018.
  6. Guttery, Ben R. (1998). Encyclopedia of African Airlines. McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 219. ISBN 0-7864-0495-7.
  7. "Gambia: Ghana Airways Touches Down In Banjul". The Independent. Accra. 13 February 2001. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  8. Manneh, Chief Ebrima B. (7 June 2006). "Gambia: NAA Maiden Flight Returns to Banjul". The Daily Observer. Banjul. Archived from the original on 15 June 2006. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
  9. Cohn, Meredith (12 April 2006). "Small airline to start BWI–Africa service". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  10. "2007 Investment Climate Statement – The Gambia". US Department of State. 20 February 2007. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
  11. "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"
  12. "SPACE SHUTTLE EMERGENCY LANDING SITES". globalsecurity.org. 20 July 2011. Archived from the original on 31 March 2016. Retrieved 5 June 2016.
  13. "Gambia - NASA Co-Operation". Archived from the original on 22 July 2014. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  14. Lacey, Marc (4 September 2005). "Memories Linger Where NASA Lights Shone in Gambia". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 27 July 2018.
  15. Liu, Jim (17 October 2019). "Addendum: Air Senegal continues Africa network expansion in W19". routesonline.com. Archived from the original on 23 December 2021. Retrieved 17 October 2019.
  16. "Air Senegal EN » Arrivals and departures". flyairsenegal.com. Archived from the original on 7 November 2018. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
  17. "Corendon". www.corendon.com. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  18. "Bratislava airport introduces several new flights in its winter schedule". spectator.sme.sk. 28 October 2019. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
  19. "Flight". spies.dk. Archived from the original on 26 May 1998. Retrieved 25 November 2018.
  20. "Flight". tjareborg.fi. Archived from the original on 15 August 2019. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  21. "Flight". ving.se. Archived from the original on 16 May 2022. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  22. "Flight". ving.no. Archived from the original on 30 April 2020. Retrieved 24 May 2022.
  23. "TAP launches flights to Banjul, The Gambia, in October". 25 May 2019. Archived from the original on 28 May 2019. Retrieved 27 May 2019.
  24. "Vol inaugural : Transair à la conquête de la Sierra Leone". dakaractu.com. 18 November 2019. Archived from the original on 11 December 2019. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  25. "Flight Timetable". tui.co.uk.
  26. Liu, Jim (1 September 2020). "TUI Airways plans Banjul service from Nov 2020". Routesonline. Archived from the original on 3 September 2020. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  27. "Accident description G-AHJB". Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  28. "Accident description G-AHEW". Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 3 November 2012. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
  29. "23 Killed in Crash of Plane in Africa". Pittsburgh Press. 7 September 1946. p. 1.
  30. B.S.A.A. York which crashed soon after take-off at night from Yundum airfield on September 7th, 1946 Archived 9 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Access August 2011
  31. "Beechcraft 200 Super King Air". Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
  32. "NAYSA Aerotaxis". Archived from the original on 11 May 2015. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
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