Bikoro Airport

The closure was not due to a single event but rather a gradual decline resulting from a combination of factors common to many remote airfields in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. These include:
1. **Economic Decline:** A lack of local economic activity to financially support airport operations and maintenance.
2. **Lack of Maintenance:** The unpaved, 1100-meter dirt/grass runway required constant upkeep, which ceased due to a lack of government funding and resources.
3. **Political Instability:** The widespread conflict and instability in the DRC during the late 1990s and early 2000s led to the breakdown of infrastructure and government services across the country, causing many regional airstrips to be abandoned.

As of the latest available satellite imagery, Bikoro Airport is completely defunct and abandoned. The former runway is heavily overgrown with grass, shrubs, and other vegetation, making it unusable for any type of aircraft. The outline of the airstrip is still faintly visible from the air, but the land is being reclaimed by nature. There are no visible airport buildings, hangars, or infrastructure remaining. The area appears to be used informally by locals for footpaths and potentially small-scale subsistence farming.

When active, Bikoro Airport was a vital, albeit basic, transportation link for the remote town of Bikoro. It was never a major commercial airport and did not have an IATA code, indicating it did not handle scheduled passenger flights. Its operations would have consisted of:
- **General Aviation:** Use by small, single or twin-engine propeller aircraft (e.g., Cessna, Piper, Britten-Norman Islander).
- **Government and Administrative Flights:** Connecting local administrators with the regional capital, Mbandaka, and the national capital, Kinshasa.
- **Humanitarian and Missionary Work:** Serving as a crucial access point for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), medical missions, and religious groups operating in the area.
- **Medical Evacuations (MEDEVAC):** Providing the fastest way to transport critically ill or injured patients from a region with extremely poor road infrastructure.
Its significance was purely local, providing an essential lifeline to the outside world for a community isolated by dense forest and the Tumba-Ngiri-Maindombe wetlands.

There are currently no known or publicly announced plans to rehabilitate or reopen Bikoro Airport. Reopening the airstrip would require significant investment to clear the extensive vegetation, regrade and compact the runway surface, and establish at least minimal ground support facilities. Given the high cost and the lack of a strong economic driver in the immediate vicinity, the prospects for its reopening in the foreseeable future are considered extremely low. Any future consideration would likely depend on a major new development in the region, such as a large-scale mining, logging, or agricultural project that would require dedicated air logistics.