The government of Benin is set to undertake a second phase rehabilitation/upgrade project for Cardinal Bernadin Gantin international airport (IATA: COO, ICAO: DBBB), which is located in the Cadjehoun neighborhood of Cotonou, the largest city in the West African country.
It has thus during a recent meeting of the Council of Ministers given the green light for the start of work for the said phase. The works take into account the redevelopment of the airport’s reception area, the interior renovation of the ministerial pavilion, and the construction of a business class lounge.
Included in the Government’s Action Program (PAG), the fundamental objective of the project is to increase the capacity of the airport facility from 500,000 to 1,500,000 passengers per year.
Phase 1 rehabilitation
The second phase of rehabilitation follows the success of phase 1 which was carried out last year (2020). The latter saw the extension of the departure hall in the passenger terminal, the extension and structural works of the runway and shoulders as well as the construction of a 700-space vehicle parking area.
It also included the acquisition and installation of a modern information system that would bring together several IT modules, and make it possible to manage airport operations efficiently, so as to ensure greater satisfaction to travelers. In particular, this involved facilitating check-in formalities, promoting the automatic display of flights, guaranteeing the baggage-passenger correlation, and helping to better bill services.
According to the National Civil Aviation Agency of Benin, the implementation of phase 1 of the project was a very decisive factor in the award of the certification of compliance with aviation safety standards, awarded to the airport last month.
