The new terminal at Freetown International Airport, Lungi

Status and what opened

President Julius Maada Bio commissioned the new terminal facilities at Lungi on Friday, 3 March 2023 ¹. State House said the terminal can handle over one million passengers a year, about five times the old capacity ¹. A press release on Runway Girl Network reported a terminal of 14,000 square metres and room for eight widebody jets at once ².

The fact-checking site Dubawa found that the project is a new arrival and departure terminal next to the existing airport, not a new airport ⁵. The existing runway was resurfaced and refurbished, not replaced ⁵. A press release on Runway Girl Network gave the runway length as 3.2 km ².

• Passenger terminal and a presidential and VIP terminal, as listed by Dubawa from the President's remarks ⁵
• Air traffic control tower, parallel taxiway and an apron for eight large aircraft ⁵
• Search and rescue and firefighting facility ⁵
• A 1.5 MW solar farm ^2,5
• Cargo terminal, car park and fuel farm, as reported by Premier Media ⁷

The build, operate and transfer deal

The agreement is between the Government of Sierra Leone and Summa Airports (SL) Limited ³. It was dated 12 November 2020, the day President Bio turned the sod ³. Parliament ratified it on 16 December 2020 after debate ³. On 11 May 2021 Parliament ratified an amended version meant to remove ambiguities, presented by Deputy Minister of Transport and Aviation Rex Bhonopha ⁴.

State House said the airport was built with no government debt and would be handed to Sierra Leone after some years of operation ¹. A press release on Runway Girl Network reported that the concession runs 25 years and that Summa holds the right to run the airport during that time ². The full agreement text was not found in public sources for this page.

Figures that differ between sources

Sources give different figures for capacity, cost and ownership ^1,3. They are set out here with dates.

• Capacity: one million passengers a year per State House in 2020 and 2023, and three million per Deputy Minister Sadiq Sillah in Parliament in December 2020 ^1,3
• Cost: US$270 million per State House, and a figure of over US$300 million in a December 2020 Sierra Leone Telegraph report that did not name who gave it ³
• Company: State House in March 2023 called Summa a Turkish construction company, and the Sierra Leone Telegraph in 2020 and 2021 called the contracting company Russian-owned ^1,34
• Dubawa noted the same gap on ownership and did not settle it ⁵

Why the airport stayed at Lungi

The previous government had planned a new international airport at Mamamah ⁶. In October 2018 the new government told the project director that the Mamamah project was closing, as reported by the Sierra Leone Telegraph ⁶. That report put the Mamamah cost at US$400 million, financed by a loan from China ⁶.

At the 2023 commissioning, President Bio said Lungi and Port Loko should remain the country's international gateway ¹. He contrasted the Lungi model with Mamamah, which he said carried US$350 million of debt with interest ¹.

Who does what at the terminal

Summa runs the airport during the concession, per a press release on Runway Girl Network ². Summa signed a contract with Westminster Aviation Security Services on 25 April 2023 for aviation security services at the airport ⁷. That contract was made under the guidance of the Ministry of Transport and Aviation and the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority ⁷.