The Freetown International Airport situated in Lungi handled an average of three thousand (3,000) visiting air passengers every month in 2011. This is according to statistics released by the National Tourist Board (NTB) for the year 2011.
In his analysis NTB General Manager Cecil Williams opined that the 50ieth anniversary celebrations during April, seems to have affected the figures recorded that month with the highest number of visits computed as 5,796 air passengers. This topped all the other months in the year 2011.
December which is normally regarded as the vacation period recorded a slightly lower figure of 5,563 air arrivals. The lowest influx of foreign air passengers however, was recorded in August with 2,968. August with the highest rainfall is also seen as the period when middle
class Sierra Leoneans travel to Europe and America on vacation.
Further analysis shows that April also recorded the highest figure of 1,777 for those air passengers who listed ‘holiday’ on their arrival forms. This is the highest recorded figure in 2011 for the ‘holiday’ category with May recording the nearest figure of 1,230 in the same category. With the exception of January (1,190), March (1,078) and June (1,072) all the other months recorded figures below one thousand in the holiday category. {Dec. – 990, Nov.- 836, Feb. 830, Oct. 697, Jul. -592, Sep. 515 and Aug.-339}
Those who listed they were coming to do Business in the month of April recorded the second highest figures of 1,701. Those Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) showed the second highest figures for that category for the year with 1,078 whilst the highest figure for 2011 was recorded for December – 2,026.
When ranked from the highest to the lowest the air passenger arrivals ratings for 2011 are as follows:-
(1) April (5,796)
(2) December (5,563)
(3) November (4,889)
(4) May (4,817)
(5) March (4,790)
(6) January (4,692)
(7) June (4,316)
(8) October (4,213)
(9) February (3,467)
(10) September (3,371)
(11) July (3,560)
(12) August (2,968)