Departure
97%
vs 95% ▲ 2
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Spriggs Payne Airport sits in the busy Sinkor district of Monrovia, Liberia, just a few kilometres from the city centre, and is the country's secondary paved airfield after Roberts International. It has long served domestic Liberian flights, UN helicopter operations and occasional regional airline services, making it a useful VFR destination for pilots visiting the capital.
Spriggs Payne Airport (ICAO: GLMR) lies in the Sinkor section of Monrovia, Liberia, close to the city's business and political districts. It is named after James Spriggs Payne, twice president of the Republic of Liberia in the nineteenth century. While Roberts International Airport handles the bulk of the country's international traffic, Spriggs Payne is the only other airfield in Liberia with a paved runway, and it has historically carried domestic services, occasional regional airline flights and a heavy volume of United Nations helicopter and fixed-wing activity, making it an interesting and accessible field for a simulator pilot exploring West African aviation.
The airfield lies within the Sinkor district of Monrovia, only a few kilometres from the city's downtown business and political core, placing it firmly within a densely built-up urban area. It sits at an elevation of 16 feet above mean sea level at coordinates 6.2843, -10.7668. Roberts International Airport, Liberia's principal gateway, lies further from the city and provides approach control coverage for the wider area.
Spriggs Payne has a single physical runway orientated 05/23. The 05 threshold measures 5,831 feet in length and the 23 threshold 5,862 feet; the surface is hard and the runway is lit.
Tower services are provided on 118.7 MHz under the callsign Spriggs Tower. Approach control for the area is provided by Roberts Approach on 124.5 MHz. There is no ILS at the field, and no other navigational aids are documented.
The airfield is a useful visual landmark in its own right, being situated within the thickly settled Sinkor section of Monrovia and close to the city's downtown business and political districts, only a few kilometres from the coast.
Spriggs Payne has been the primary base for domestic air services within Liberia since the 1950s and began handling limited international flights from early 1991. During the Liberian Civil War the airfield served as a base for ECOMOG troops and suffered damage in the conflict, including a rocket attack by rebels in April 1996 that destroyed several aircraft. From 2008 to mid-2010 Cameroon-based Elysian Airlines operated a significant scheduled network from the airport, connecting Monrovia to Freetown, Conakry, Banjul and onward points including Lagos and Douala, as well as domestic routes to Harper and occasional stops at Greenville. After Elysian ceased operations, Ethiopian Airlines affiliate ASKY Airlines began flying from Spriggs Payne later in 2010, initially to Accra, Banjul and Abidjan. Fly 6ix, briefly designated Sierra Leone's national carrier, operated a short-lived service from Freetown and Conakry via Spriggs Payne from January 2011. The runway underwent refurbishment during 2011 and 2012, during which ASKY temporarily transferred operations to Robertsfield before returning to Spriggs Payne once resurfacing was complete in mid-2013. Flights were suspended in November 2014 because of the Ebola outbreak in Liberia, with ASKY resuming services to Monrovia from November 2017. On 10 June 1978 a Vickers Viscount of West African Air Cargo was damaged beyond economic repair after its undercarriage collapsed on landing.
The airport today handles a mix of domestic and limited regional flying. On 14 January 2023 the domestic Liberian carrier Eco World began services from Spriggs Payne to Maryland, Sinoe, Grand Gedeh and Lofa Counties, with plans for further international routes to Conakry and Freetown. The primary activity at the field, however, remains United Nations helicopter and fixed-wing operations, which occupy much of the airside tarmac and operational buildings.
