| Cardinal Bernadin Gantin International Airport | |
| Nativename: | Cotonou Cadjehoun Airport |
| Iata: | COO |
| Icao: | DBBB |
| Pushpin Map: | Benin |
| Pushpin Map Caption: | Location of Airport in Benin |
| Pushpin Label: | COO |
| Pushpin Label Position: | right |
| City-Served: | Cotonou and Porto-Novo, Benin |
| Hub: | Rwandair |
| Elevation-F: | 19 |
| Elevation-M: | 6 |
| Metric-Elev: | y |
| Metric-Rwy: | y |
| R1-Number: | 06/24 |
| R1-Length-M: | 2400 |
| R1-Surface: | Asphalt |
| Footnotes: | Sources: GCM ACI's 2014 World Airport Traffic Report. |
Cardinal Bernadin Gantin International Airport (formerly known as Cotonou Cadjehoun Airport) is an airport in the Cadjehoun neighborhood of Cotonou, the largest city in Benin, in West Africa. The airport is the largest in the country, and the primary entry point into the country by air, with flights to Africa and Europe.
The airport was renamed after cardinal Bernardin Gantin in 2021.[1]
| Passengers | Change from previous year | Aircraft operations | Change from previous year | Cargo (metric tons) | Change from previous year | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | 401,073 | 20.79% | 9,274 | 13.96% | 5,772 | 36.94% | |
| 2008 | 394,444 | 1.65% | 9,915 | 6.91% | 10,091 | 74.83% | |
| 2009 | 391,318 | 0.79% | 10,209 | 2.97% | 8,081 | 19.92% | |
| 2010 | 406,491 | 3.88% | 11,604 | 13.66% | 6,047 | 25.17% | |
| 2011 | 432,500 | 6.40% | N.D. | N.D. | 6,829 | 12.93% | |
| 2012 | 481,389 | 11.30% | N.D. | N.D. | 6,959 | 1.90% | |
| 2013 | 470,068 | 2.35% | 11,876 | N.D. | 6,506 | 6.51% | |
| 2014 | 503,633 | 7.14% | 11,855 | 0.18% | 7,995 | 22.89% | |
| Source: Airports Council International. World Airport Traffic Reports (Years 2005,[2] 2006,[3] 2007,[4] 2009,[5] 2011,[6] 2012,[7] 2013,[8] and 2014[9]) | |||||||
In 1974, it was decided to move the operations of the Cotonou international airport to a new facility in Glo-Djigbé. Lack of funding quickly stopped the project.
The plans were revived in 2011, and President Yayi Boni presided at a ceremonial start to the construction of the new airport, using South African funding.[10] Construction on the new facility appears to have stalled again.[11]
Meanwhile, improvements to the Cotonou airport were initiated.[12] [13]