Coordinates: 06°17′21″N 10°45′31″W / 6.28917°N 10.75861°W / 6.28917; -10.75861

The Exterior of the main terminal at Spriggs Payne Airport in Monrovia, Liberia, taken from the parking area. The main entrance is at the center of the photograph under the green porte-cochere. The Elysian Airlines ticket office is at the far right.

James Spriggs Payne Airport (IATA: MLW, ICAO: GLMR) is an airport located three miles from downtown Monrovia, the capital of the Republic of Liberia in West Africa. The airfield is located within the busy and thickly-settled Sinkor section of the metropolitan area, and is therefore convenient to the entire central city. Whereas Roberts International Airport is the primary aviation facility for the city and indeed the entire country, Spriggs-Payne has the only other paved runway in Liberia and only other international commercial flights into and out of Liberia.

History

Since early 1991, Spriggs-Payne, formerly a domestic airport, has handled limited international flights for Liberia. As of February 2010, the only scheduled commercial services are operated by Cameroon-based Elysian Airlines. However, this single carrier has established a significant operation, with weekly services to Freetown, Sierra Leone; Conakry, Guinea, and Banjul, the Gambia with connections to onward destinations such as Lagos, Nigeria and Douala, Cameroon. Elysian also connects the airport to several domestic destinations, with a weekly round-trip to Harper, and occasional stops in Greenville.

The airport facility consists of a collection of small, single-story buildings. The terminal itself has a passenger x-ray screening area at the entrance, a waiting room with satellite televisions, and a small bar. The airport is also equipped with immigration facilities to handle international arrivals. Elysian Airlines operates a ticket office outside the terminal building, and the United Nations occupies several operational offices facing the airside tarmac. In fact, Spriggs-Payne primary activity consists UN helicopter and aircraft operations.

The airport is named after James Spriggs Payne who was president of the Republic of Liberia in 1868-70 and again in 1876-78.

Accidents and incidents

• On 10 June 1978, Vickers Viscount 9G-AGL of West African Air Cargo was damaged beyond economic repair when the undercarriage collapsed on landin.

The content above was published at Airports-Worldwide.com in 2010.
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