Cocobeach Airport

The closure was most likely due to economic reasons and obsolescence driven by improved ground transportation. The development and improvement of the N5 road provided a reliable, all-weather link between Cocobeach and the capital, Libreville. This reduced the necessity for relatively expensive air travel for passengers and light cargo, leading to a decline in demand that made the airstrip economically unviable to maintain.

The airport is completely abandoned and defunct. The site of the former runway is still visible on satellite imagery as a long, straight clearing in the vegetation just east of the town. However, it is entirely overgrown with grass and shrubs, making it unusable for any form of aviation. The land remains undeveloped, with no new construction on the former airstrip itself.

Cocobeach Airport was a small, unpaved regional airstrip serving the coastal town of Cocobeach, located near the border with Equatorial Guinea. Its primary function was to connect this relatively remote community with other parts of Gabon, particularly Libreville. Operations were limited to small, propeller-driven aircraft capable of using short, unprepared runways (STOL aircraft). It handled light passenger traffic, mail, critical supplies, and likely served administrative and medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) flights. The identifier 'GA-0012' is not an official ICAO code (Gabon's ICAO prefix is 'FO'), but rather a non-standard identifier used by some aviation databases to track minor or defunct airfields.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Cocobeach Airport. The original need for the airstrip has been superseded by the road network. Re-establishing the airport would require significant investment to clear the land, grade and resurface the runway, and install basic infrastructure. Given the small size of the community and the existing road link, such an investment is considered highly unlikely to be economically justified.