Bokada, CD 🇨🇩 Closed Airport
CD-0049
-
1647 ft
CD-NU
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: 4.145359° N, 19.38882° E
Continent: AF
Type: Closed Airport
Keywords: FZFG
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The exact date of closure is not officially recorded. However, it is believed to have ceased operations in the latter half of the 20th century, likely between the 1970s and early 1990s. There is no evidence of it being operational at any point since the First Congo War (1996-1997).
The closure was primarily due to economic reasons linked to the decline of the commercial operations it served. The airport was a private airstrip, most likely built and operated by the 'Plantations Lever au Congo' (PLC), a subsidiary of Unilever, for their palm oil plantations. The 'Zairianization' policy of the 1970s, which nationalized many foreign-owned assets, combined with subsequent economic decline and regional instability, led to the scaling back or cessation of such private logistical networks. The airstrip fell into disuse due to a lack of purpose, funding, and maintenance, with its condition further deteriorating during the Congo Wars.
The airport is completely abandoned and non-operational. Satellite imagery confirms the location shows a clear, straight runway outline in the landscape, but it is entirely overgrown with dense grass, shrubs, and small trees. The runway surface is no longer visible or usable for any form of aviation. The site has been reclaimed by nature, and there is no infrastructure, such as buildings or navigation aids, remaining. It exists only as a faint scar in the surrounding plantation and forest.
Bokada Airport was not a public or major commercial airport. Its significance was purely utilitarian, serving as a vital logistical link for a remote plantation. It was part of an extensive network of private airfields in the Congo Basin built during the colonial and early post-colonial era. Operations would have consisted of light transport aircraft (e.g., de Havilland Doves, Piper Aztecs, or similar STOL aircraft) used for transporting company personnel, managers, medical supplies, mail, and urgent, high-value cargo between the Bokada plantation and larger administrative centers like Gemena, Mbandaka, or Kinshasa. It represents an era when air travel was the only reliable way to manage vast agricultural concessions in the dense Congolese rainforest.
There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Bokada Airport. The cost of clearing the runway, rebuilding the surface to a safe standard, and establishing basic infrastructure would be substantial. Given its remote location, the lack of a significant local economic driver, and the advanced state of decay, reopening is considered highly improbable. Any future large-scale commercial or industrial activity in the area would likely find it more feasible to either build a new airstrip or upgrade a different, more strategically located airfield.
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