Why Africa is home to the world's 'worst airports'

At 2 a.m. sometime in February. A Royal Air Maroc airplane was in the skies, approaching Liberia's Roberts International Airport. Suddenly, the runway and control tower's lights went dark. There was a total blackout. Technicians spent the next hour getting another generator running while the aircraft circled aimlessly above.

The airplane made several unsuccessful landing attempts using its navigation system. Unable to wait any longer, it headed for Sierra Leone and landed there, leaving many passengers stranded.

It was the second time the runway and control tower had been plunged into a total blackout.

Pulling the Monrovia route

The incident may not be unconnected to why Air France announced on March 11 that it was suspending flights to Liberia from the end of April. Poor profitability and the country's current geopolitical situation were among the reasons cited for the suspension.

The airline issued an official statement saying that executives had met with Liberia's transport minister in Paris "to inform him about Air France operations in Liberia" and added that it had "decided to suspend its flights to Monrovia, Liberia as of the end of April 2022."

Mali crisis to blame?

Claims in the Liberian media indicated that the decision was partly due to the risk posed to the lives of passengers and the airline's properties by the lack of a stable power supply.

However, George Yuoh, finance chief at Liberia Airport Authority, denied these were to blame for Air France's departure, citing the crisis in Mali as the cause. 

"All the speculations that Air France is leaving because of poor management are far from the truth," he told DW.

"The truth is, Air France was here because of its operation in Mali's capital, Bamako. In February, when things became tenuous to the point where the Malian government expelled the French troops, Air France pulled out as well. There was no need to come to Liberia again," he added.

Mali has been an epicenter of regional conflict and instability over the past 10 years. France had intervened to help combat terrorism in the country, but an internal ethnic conflict developed and exacerbated. In February 2022, Mali's government expelled France's ambassador. 

Dark welcome 

On March 28, Liberian President George Weah and other government officials arrived at a pitch-black airport on returning from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where they had participated in Expo Dubai.

A day later, travelers were again thrown into pitch darkness at the airport, forcing them to use their cellphone flashlights while waiting for flights to depart. 

Various airlines reacted by canceling or scaling down flights. The unstable power supply at the airport has resulted in major airlines diverting flights to neighboring countries, including Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Ivory Coast. Passengers have had to spend extra money traveling from nearby countries.

Turbulent times

Liberian economist David Fehart told DW that Air France's departure was a national economic loss to the country. "It hurts us because it limits the inflow and outflow of people," he said. "When I look at the airport and I go and see other airports and see the number of flights going in and out, I wonder why things are not happening like that for us?"

"So if they are pulling out, it means there's an absence of income. When a plane comes in, it pays landing fees, parking fees, they buy fuel and their employees use the hotels and so that will be a loss in revenue," Fehart added.

Air France — like many other airlines — has gone through turbulent times flying to Liberia. In 2012, it incurred almost $500,000 (€459,000) in damages due to the poor and dilapidated condition of the runway and was prompted to leave. 

It returned only two years ago after the Liberian government upgraded the runway. 

But close-up video footage of the airport's runway filmed by DW on March 16, 2022 suggested that it is in poor condition again.

Need for investments

In-depth findings reveal that many African countries need to invest more in ground infrastructure to make their airports suitable for operations, especially the landing of wide-bodied aircraft.

Certain aircraft require a stipulated minimum runway standard to land safely and without putting passengers' lives at risk.

Having a robust infrastructure helps aviation thrive in such a locality.

In some parts of Africa, investment in airport infrastructure is meager — a reason why some countries keep popping up on "worst airport" lists.

In 2021, Sudan's Khartoum International Airport, Kinshasa N'djili International Airport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Libya's Tripoli International Airport, Tanzania's Julius Nyerere International Airport were found to be the worst in the region. Chad's N'Djamena International Airport topped a list of the worst airports on the African continent, according to the survey Best Airports of 2017: Africa (sleepinginairports.net).

Others included Luanda Quatro de Fevereiro International Airport in Angola, Cairo International Airport in Egypt, Juba International Airport in South Sudan, and Murtala Muhammed International Airport in Nigeria.

Five years before that list was published, Nigeria's Port Harcourt International Airport, Mauritania's Nouakchott International Airport, Cameroon's Douala International Airport, Zanzibar's Abeid Amani Kaume International Airport, Togo's Lome Tokoin Airport, and Morocco's Marrakesh Menara Airport, had been named the world's worst airports.

The problems in some of these countries,such as Nigeria, are not due to infrastructure challenges but to relaxed regulatory frameworks.

Not all gloom 

Some African countries are investing heavily in on-ground infrastructure, thereby measuring up to international standards.  But not all countries can afford such luxury given the economic hardship of the past three years particularly.

Beautiful terminals not enough

Airports Council International — a major global aviation regulator that seeks to promote excellence in the aviation industry — says the parameters for assessing airports goes beyond on-ground infrastructure. Human elements such as the attitudes of airport staff, customer service, and operation processes are also major considerations in the ratings of airports.

That is why Egypt, despite its beautiful terminals and good ground infrastructure, was named amid the "worst African airports" in surveys carried out in 2016, 2018, and 2021. Its touchpoints were found to be "customer-unfriendly" due to members of staff being uncaring, rude, and unhelpful. People travelling through the airport were reported to feel unsafe, emotionally drained, and insecure.

Dominic Andoh, managing editor at Aviation Ghana, told DW that if Egypt wanted to reap the benefits from its infrastructure investments, it needed to rework and improve its customer service, which includes how airport staff talk to people and the way they handle people's bags to avoid pilfering. "All those count if they are going to benefit from the on-ground infrastructure," he said. 

Nigeria's Lagos — MM1  and MM2 — airports have constantly featured on "worst airport" lists over the past five years due to connection problems between both terminals. Customs and immigration clearance at MM1 is cumbersome. For example, it takes a traveler at Ghana's Kotoka International Airport between 45 to 60 minutes to go through all the processes and board an aircraft. In Lagos, it can take between two and a half to three hours for the same procedure.

Travelers in various surveys have complained that after going through all the processes at the airport, they are emotionally, mentally, and physically drained by the time of boarding.

Andoh said that that Nigeria and other countries could learn from Ghana, which had established a profit-oriented limited liability company responsible for managing all airports.

"If Nigeria is free to establish a limited liability company devoid of government control which would oversee all the airports, then that company would be responsible for making all the key decisions," he said.

He said airport managers would know that they would be judged on how profitable they were and would not spend 10 minutes processing just one passenger. It would put in the necessary structures to ensure that the airport was run efficiently and profitably.

Culture of pilfering

South Africa's OR Tambo International Airportin Johannesburg, Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nigeria's Murtala Muhammed, and Port Harcourt International Airport, among others, are notorious for problems regarding the tampering of luggage and pilfering, as well as for endemic corruption.

Some luggage disappears, never to be found.

On December 31, 2018, Christoph Groenen called out OR Tambo Airport on Twitter for breaking into his luggage.

"Stuff gets stolen in the tractor wagons on the way to the planes. I once left Joburg in a big rainstorm. When I got to PE, my bag was broken into, and the inside content was soaking wet," he tweeted.

He went on to say: "They do it outside. I also think they steal inside the plane cargo holds when packing."

Dealing with culprits

On October 12 of the same year, Gerhard Viljoen also complained on Twitter that his nephew had also had "stuff stolen" at the same airport.  "Why not rather fix your broken system!" he told the airport management after receiving inadequate help from staff.

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport is also notorious for endemic theft. Dominic Andoh told DW that regulators should sanction ground handling companies harshly when there were issues and the respective staff on duty should be punished. "That will serve as a deterrent for pilfering in our airports in Africa," he said.

Evelyn Kpadeh in Monrovia contributed to this article.

Edited by: Keith Walker and Chrispin Mwakideu