Roberts International Airport

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Roberts International Airport

Roberts International Airport is an airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as Fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and Non-rigid airship take off and land. Aircraft may also be stored or maintained at an airport....
in the West Africa

West Africa

West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of the African continent. Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Western Africa includes the following 16 countries distributed over an area of approximately 5 million square km:...
n nation of Liberia

Liberia

Liberia , officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sierra Leone, Guinea, C?te d'Ivoire, and the Atlantic Ocean....
. Located in near the town of Harbel

Harbel

Harbel is a town in Margibi County, Liberia. It lies along the Farmington River, about 15 miles upstream from the Atlantic Ocean. It was named for the founder of The Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, Harvey Samuel Firestone, and his wife, Idabelle....
, the single runway airport is about 35 miles outside of the nation's capital of Monrovia

Monrovia

Monrovia is the capital city of the West African nation of Liberia. Located on the Atlantic Ocean at Cape Mesurado, it lies within Montserrado County, the most populous county in Liberia....
, and as an origin and destination point is referred to as "Monrovia" in popular usage. The facility with its long runway is an emergency landing site for the United States' Space Shuttle program

Space Shuttle program

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called Space Transportation System , is the United States government's current Human spaceflight launch vehicle....
and the principal international airport in the country.

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Encyclopedia

Roberts International Airport is an airport

Airport

West Africa

Liberia

Harbel

Monrovia

Space Shuttle program

Joseph Jenkins Roberts

Joseph Jenkins Roberts was the first and seventh President of Liberia of Liberia. Roberts was born in Norfolk, Virginia, Virginia, USA, and emigrated to Liberia in 1829....
, the first President of Liberia, and is frequently called Robertsfield.

History

In 1942, Liberia signed a Defense Pact with the United States. This commenced a period of strategic road building and other construction related to US military interests in checking the expansion of the Axis, particularly in terms of the Italian occupation of North Africa. The Airport was originally built by the United States government as an Air Force base as part of these activities.Robertsfield Airport was built with runways long enough for B-47 Stratojet

B-47 Stratojet

The Boeing B-47 Stratojet jet bomber was a medium-range and medium-size bomber capable of flying at high subsonic speeds and primarily designed for penetrating the airspace of the Soviet Union....
bombers to land for refueling, giving Liberia what was for many years the longest runway in Africa. President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States had lunch with President Edwin J. Barclay of Liberia at Roberts International Airport, during FDR's visit to Liberia in January 1943.

The story of Robertsfield is consistently intertwined with the history of Pan American World Airways

Pan American World Airways

Pan American World Airways, commonly known as Pan Am, was the principal international airline of the United States from the 1930s until its collapse on December 4, 1991....
. 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

Accra is the capital city, and most populous city of Ghana, a nation on the coast of the western region of Africa. The city also doubles as the capital of the Greater Accra Region, and of the Accra Metropolis District with which it is coterminous....
and Dakar

Dakar

Dakar is the capital city of Senegal, located on the Cap-Vert, on the country's Atlantic Ocean coast. It is Senegal's largest city. Its position, on the western edge of Africa , is an advantageous departure point for trans-Atlantic and European trade; this fact aided its growth into a major regional seaport....
, from which service continued onward to Europe and New York

New York

The State of New York is a U.S. state in the Mid-Atlantic States and Northeastern United States regions of the United States and is the nation's List of U.S....
. In the late 1970s and into the early 1980s, the airport became Pan Am's principal African hub, with a non-stop service from New York JFK

John F. Kennedy International Airport

John F. Kennedy International Airport is an international airport located on Long Island, in Queens County, New York in southeastern New York City about 12 miles from Lower Manhattan....
connecting at Robertsfield to such destinations as Dakar, Accra, Abidjan

Abidjan

Abidjan is the economic and former official capital of C?te d'Ivoire . It is the largest city in the nation, and the second largest French speaking city in the world....
, Lagos

Lagos

Lagos is the most populous conurbation in Nigeria with 7,937,932 inhabitants at the 2006 census. It is currently the second most Largest cities in africa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa , immediately following Bamako....
, and Conakry

Conakry

Conakry or Konakry is the Capital and largest city of Guinea.Guinea's capital city is a port on the Atlantic Ocean. Originally situated on Tombo Island, one of the ?les de Los, it has since spread up the neighboring Kaloum Peninsula....
, among others, and continuing on to Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital city and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi Province. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai language phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters"....
and even at times Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Joburg, is the largest city in South Africa. Johannesburg is the province Capital of Gauteng the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa....
, 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.

At some point during the Liberian Civil War

Liberian Civil War

The First Liberian Civil War was a conflict in Liberia from 1989 until 1996....
, the main terminal building suffered major damage, and remains vacant and unused. Currently, the terminal facilities consist of a small departure terminal, with another terminal primarily used by the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are to facilitate cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, Social change, human rights and achieving world peace....
, but also for departures by most commercial carriers. A VIP terminal is housed in a third airside building. It is currently an alternative landing site for NASA

NASA

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an agency of the Federal government of the United States, responsible for the nation's public list of space agencies....
's Space Shuttle

Space Shuttle

NASA's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System , is the spacecraft currently used by the United States government for its human spaceflight missions....
.

The airport is clearly the nation's busiest most important aviation facility, with the only connection to Europe and soon to feature a direct scheduled service to the United States. However, Monrovia's secondary airport, Spriggs Payne

Spriggs Payne Airport

James Spriggs Payne Airport is an airport located three miles from downtown Monrovia, the capital of the Liberia in West Africa. The airfield is located within the busy and thickly-settled Sinkor section of the metropolitan area, and is therefore convenient to the entire central city....
, is much closer to the city center, possessing the nation's only other paved runway and featuring international connections served by Cameroon

Cameroon

The Republic of Cameroon is a unitary state of central and western Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west; Chad to the northeast; the Central African Republic to the east; and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the Republic of the Congo to the south....
-based Elysian Airlines

Elysian Airlines

Elysian Airlines is an airline based in Yaound?, Cameroon, with a significant bases of operation at Spriggs Payne Airport in Monrovia, Liberia, and Conakry, Guinea....
. Presently, daily commercial traffic consists of only one or two arrivals. The busiest and most frequent connection is to Accra

Kotoka International Airport

Kotoka International Airport in Accra, Ghana is the country's most important international air facility and has the capacity for large aircraft such as the Airbus A380....
, with four airlines providing nearly one flight per day on the route.

Airlines and destinations

Roberts is the principal international airport in Liberia, and one of only two with paved runways in the nation.

Aero Contractors (Nigeria)
Aero Contractors (Nigeria)

Aero Contractors or simply "Aero" is an airline based in Lagos, Nigeria. It operates domestic and international scheduled services, air taxi, charter and third party aircraft operations, largely in support of Nigeria's extensive oil and gas industry....
(Accra, Lagos)
Avient Aviation
Avient Aviation

Avient Aviation is a freight charter airline based in Zimbabwe. It was established in 1993 and operates scheduled services between the United Kingdom and France to Africa and UAE, as well as charters....
(Bamako)
Bellview Airlines
Bellview Airlines (Nigeria)

Bellview Airlines is an airline based in Lagos, Nigeria. It is privately owned and operates domestic, regional and international scheduled passenger services....
(Abidjan, Accra, Freetown, Lagos)
Brussels Airlines
Brussels Airlines

Brussels Airlines is the largest Belgian airline. It operates to over 50 destinations in 20 European countries as well as long-haul flights to East, Central and West Africa....
(Brussels, Abidjan)
Delta Air Lines
Delta Air Lines

Delta Air Lines, incorporation is a United States airline based and headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia . Delta operates an expansive domestic and international network, spanning North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean....
(Dakar, New York-JFK) [begins June 8, 2009]
Kenya Airways
Kenya Airways

Kenya Airways is the flag carrier airline of Kenya, based in Nairobi. It started operations on 4 February 1977, and operates scheduled services throughout Africa and to Europe and the Indian subcontinent, with its main base at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi....
(Accra, Nairobi)
Royal Air Maroc
Royal Air Maroc

Royal Air Maroc is the flag carrier airline of Morocco, based in Casablanca. It operates scheduled international flights from Morocco to Africa, Asia, Europe, and North America and a domestic and charter network, ....
(Casablanca, Freetown)
Virgin Nigeria Airways
Virgin Nigeria Airways

Virgin Nigeria Airways Limited is a Nigerian airline that operates scheduled international, regional and domestic passenger services. Its hub is Murtala Mohammed International Airport of the Lagos area....
(Accra, Lagos)

External links

at GlobalSecurity.org
GlobalSecurity.org

GlobalSecurity.org, launched in 2000, is a public policy organization whose mission is to be a reliable source of background information and developing news stories in the fields of defense , space, intelligence , Weapons_of_mass_destruction, and homeland security....
- TLC Africa