Exterior of airport; December 2007
View from runway; June 2010
Malabo Airport or Saint Isabel Airport (IATA: SSG, ICAO: FGSL) is an airport located at Punta Europa, Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea. The airport is named after the capital, Malabo, approximately 9 kilometres to the east. Until the discovery of oil within the borders of Equatorial Guinea during the mid-90s, the airport was a tin-roofed shack that only serviced one international flight, the government was the main user of the airport. Today it is used mainly by two opposing groups; the Petroleum industry and conservationists. During the Nigerian Civil War, the airport was used as a base for flights into Biafra.
The old tin shack that used to greet arrivals has been replaced by a modern airport lounge. The airport now receives a comfortable amount of foreign traffic, although parts of the runway are in need of repair. Despite recent progress, Malabo airport is one of only two paved airports in Equatorial Guinea, according to the CIA world factbook's entry for the country, with the other being Bata Airport, located on mainland Africa. The hangars can service large aircraft such as the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 or the C-130 Hercules. In 2001, the airport served 34,500 passengers and that number has since risen.
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