MY FS FLIGHTS
Cadjehoun Airport, also known since 2021 as Cardinal Bernadin Gantin International Airport, is Benin's principal international gateway, situated in the Cadjehoun district of Cotonou. It offers a single long, lit hard-surface runway with an ILS, making it a straightforward and well-equipped destination for simulated airline and general aviation flights into West Africa.
Cadjehoun Airport (ICAO: DBBB, IATA: COO) serves Cotonou, Benin's largest city, and is the country's principal point of entry by air, handling flights to destinations across Africa and to Europe. Formerly known simply as Cotonou Cadjehoun Airport, it was renamed Cardinal Bernadin Gantin International Airport in 2021. For a simulator pilot it offers a single well-lit runway with an ILS approach, set in a compact urban location right on the edge of the city.
The airfield lies in the Cadjehoun neighbourhood of Cotonou, in Atlantique Department, Benin, at coordinates 6.3564, 2.3833 and an elevation of 13 feet. As the country's main airport it sits within controlled airspace serving the capital region, with the field positioned close to the city it serves.
There is a single physical runway, 06/24, aligned north-east to south-west and measuring 7,744 feet with a hard surface. Both directions are lit, and runway 24 is equipped with an ILS, giving instrument approach capability from the south-west.
Radio services include an air-to-ground frequency of 658.6 MHz, an approach frequency of 125.9 MHz, and tower frequencies of 118.7 MHz and 125.9 MHz. The runway 24 approach is supported by an ILS.
The airport traces its improvements back to plans first considered in 1974, when authorities decided to relocate Cotonou's international air operations to a new facility at Glo-Djigbé; lack of funding halted that project. The idea was revived in 2011 under President Yayi Boni, with a ceremonial start to construction using South African funding, but the new facility again stalled, leading instead to a programme of improvements at the existing Cadjehoun site. In 2021 the airport was renamed Cardinal Bernadin Gantin International Airport in honour of the Beninese cardinal.
Cadjehoun remains the largest airport in Benin and the country's primary international gateway, with scheduled airline service connecting Cotonou to destinations across Africa, including Abidjan, Lagos, Lome, Addis Ababa, Casablanca, Libreville, and to Europe via Paris and Brussels. It serves as a hub base for carriers including RwandAir. The single runway is equipped with an ILS for instrument approaches.