Francisco Mendes International Airport

Francisco Mendes International Airport
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Aeroportos e Segurança Aérea (ASA)
Location Praia, Cape Verde
Opened 1961
Closed October 2005
Coordinates 14°55′34″N 23°29′41″W / 14.9261°N 23.4948°W / 14.9261; -23.4948Coordinates: 14°55′34″N 23°29′41″W / 14.9261°N 23.4948°W / 14.9261; -23.4948

Francisco Mendes International Airport was an airport located on Santiago Island in Cape Verde. It was opened in 1961, and was named after African nationalist Francisco Mendes. It was located about 2 km east of central Praia in the southeastern part of the island of Santiago. The airport was named after Francisco Mendes, a Guinea-Bissau independence activist and that country's first Prime Minister.

History

On 28 September 1998, a TACV de Havilland Canada DHC-6 Twin Otter (registered D4-CAX) carrying Carlos Veiga, then Prime Minister of Cape Verde, 18 other passengers and three crew members crash-landed at the airport. There was one fatality (a bodyguard of the prime minister) and four people were injured.[1]

In late 2005, the airport was deactivated, and replaced by the new Praia International Airport (since 2012 Nelson Mandela International Airport).

References

  1. ↑ Aviation Safety Network. "ASN aircraft accident Monday 28 September 1998". Retrieved 7 October 2018.
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