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 |
Francisco Mendes International Airport was an airport located on Santiago Island in Cape Verde. It was opened in 1961. It was located about 2 km east of central Praia in the southeastern part of the island of Santiago. After Cape Verdean independence, 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
- ↑ Aviation Safety Network. "ASN aircraft accident Monday 28 September 1998". Retrieved 7 October 2018.