Well here we come to the return journey, Banjul has a very comfy and modern terminal when considering the location. Air conditioned and has an outdoor area with tables etc but it also allows you to get real close to the aircraft on the apron.
We did notice alot of commotion with military figures around the apron and the ‘Nigerian President’ had been in town for a day or so and thought it was associated with that, ended up speaking to a employee of the airport who works in secruirty and he told us the Gambian President was heading out to the Middle East today and that of course made sense as his private Il-62 was on the apron.
We also asked him if it was OK to take pictures and he gave the thumbs up so I was chuffed about that, after the convo had finished and about 10/15 minutes later he came into the Terminal and asked me and my step-mom if we would like to go out on the apron and get some pictures!
We of course made no hesitation and he took us through to the ‘other side’ of the Terminal and we had a walk about and a chat, this also allowed me to get some shots of the Presidents aircraft, the ATC Tower and the Terminal etc
I never expected this to happen especially in The Gambia of all places, did show what a fantastic people they were. So here are some of the shots from out venture to the other side and the rest of the journey!
12. The Gambian Presidents private Il-62 parked up awaiting his arrival, very impressive machine.
The tail emblem has the words ‘Progress, Prosperity and Peace’ in it.
13. The rather impressive ATC Tower.
14. The Terminal from the ‘ramp’ point of view, not the best angle I know but this was as far as we were allowed out but I wasn’t complaining.
15. Our flight arrives 15 minutes late from Manchester, and the aircraft was G-FCLH. You can see all the members of the military etc awaiting the Presidents arrival.
16. The nice if small Departure Lounge, it was full to near capacity with our flight of 235 pax.
17. While waiting aboard the aircraft I got a shot of the old ATC tower, the old Terminal to be fair was nothing more than a shed.
18. Another interesting aircraft sitting on the apron, another was parked next to it and according to our ‘mate’ at the airport they are used for crop dusting duties. If anyone could confirm the aircraft type for me I would be grateful.
Reg is C5-DOA
19. While taxiing out I got a shot of this all white DC-9, reg is N47401 and has been parked here for a couple fo years now. AFAIK it was part of an unsucessful attempt to start a local airline but it was declared unsafe upon arival from MIA and so was grounded and it is in a bad state now.
The viewing area I was talking about earlier is only a few metres to the left of this aircraft, I tried to get a better picture there but it was hampered by airstairs etc
20. While turning onto runway 32 for departure there were yet more hidden treasures taking residence in Banjul – Aircraft ranged from Antonov’s to Boeings.
21. While rotating I managed to get a shot of the apron, you can see the DC-9 mentioned before and the two green B732s belong to an airline called ‘Slok Air’
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