The_Open_Door_deel1

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5 seater twin-engined Cessna 337, one 5 seater twin-engined
Executive Cessna 402, one Hawker Siddley 748 twin engine turbo
prop aircraft with a capacity of 44 passenger seats, and one
Boeing 737-200C jet aircraft with a capacity of 115 passenger
seats. The purchase of the prestigious f 14 million Boeing 737
was commented on before. Officially the plane was part of Air
Liberia's fleet though it was not available to the general public.
It was exclusively used to facilitate President Tolbert's
travelling around the globe and to transport his suite and/or
official guests. It goes without saying that the (expensive)
plane was extensively used shortly before and during the 1979
O.A.U. summit meeting.
This composition of Air Liberia's fleet is very impressive when
compared with the two old DC-3's which ten years earlier
constituted the entire fleet of the Liberian National Airlines
(45).
Liberia has two international airports. One is the Robertsfield
International Airport which by I.C.A.O. standard is a Class A
International Airport. In preparation for the O.A.U. summit
meeting of 1979 the Government gave Robertsfield International
Airport (R.I.A.) a face-lift too. In 1978 a $ 4-1 million new
terminal was completed. The following year improvements of the
11,000 by 250 ft. runway were completed as a result of which
R.I.A. can now accomodate DC-10's and Boeing 747 jet aircrafts.
R.I.A. links Liberia with North and South America, Europe, and a
number of African countries. The airport is served by more than
ten international airlines (46).
The country's second international a.irport, Spriggs Payne
Airport, is located on the outskirts of the capital. This
airport, much smaller than R.I.A., mainly links Liberia with
other West African countries (Mali, Guinea, Sierra Leone).
For the management of Robertsfield International Airport the
Government still uses the services of Pan American Airways. This
U.S. company has continued to manage and operate this airport
since it was granted a management contract after the end of the
Second World War (see Chapter 4). But as PanAm is one of the
international airlines which use the international airport the
comment on the ownership of the Monrovia Port Management Company
and the utilization of the Free Port facilities also applies to
PanAm and Robertsfield. The Liberian Government, however, never
proposed any changes in the management of Robertsfield. It should
be noted that also the management of Spriggs Payne Airfield was
in the hands of PanAm, under a ten-year management contract
signed in 1968.
International air traffic has increased enormously after the
end of the Second World War (when 'Robertsfield was opened to the
general public). The greatest increase took place after 1958.
In that year the number of international air traffic passengers
in Liberia was 4,729 but this number had increased tenfold
eleven years later. In 1969 a number of 47,683 international air
traffic passengers was reported (see Annex 39). The growth in
the number of international air traffic passengers continued but
at a lower rate. At the end of the 1970's the number of arrivals
and departures reported exceeded the 100,000 mark and in 1979