Hastings Airfield and domestic flights in Sierra Leone

What Hastings Airfield is

The Sierra Leone Airports Authority says it was set up by Act No. 8 of 1988 with a mandate to manage both Freetown International Airport and the Hastings Airfield ¹. Its website does not list flights at Hastings ¹.

State House says Hastings is a town in the Rural District of the Western Area, about 15 miles east of Freetown ⁴. It describes the strip as abandoned, with a single 960-metre asphalt runway at about 60 feet above sea level ⁴. The Logistics Cluster gives the elevation as 110 ft ². The Logistics Cluster gives the codes HGS and GFHA and a runway of 960 m by 20 m on heading 08/26 in fair condition ². It calls Hastings an abandoned airfield with a paved runway and a helipad, that served the different UN missions in Sierra Leone ². The Logistics Cluster pages carry no publication date ^2,3.

Plans to rehabilitate Hastings

On 19 February 2020 Aquila Company (SL) Limited briefed President Julius Maada Bio on plans to rehabilitate and expand Hastings into an airport, according to State House ⁴. The plans included a gold refinery and assay laboratory and a 50-bedroom hotel ⁴. The company said it planned similar facilities at Lungi, Bonthe and Magburaka ⁴. State House said the President encouraged the company, especially on the Hastings airfield ⁴.

Status: proposal. The State House report gave no cost, timeline or funding ⁴. We did not find a later official record of work starting.

Domestic flights

Dubawa, as reported by Usman Fambuleh on 14 August 2025, rated as misleading a social media claim that Sierra Leone has 10 airports ⁵. Its verdict said the country has only one operational airport, Freetown International Airport at Lungi, and named Hastings Airfield in the same sentence ⁵. It said there are smaller airstrips and helipads in some areas that do not count as full airports ⁵. It said a second international airport promised at Mamamah by the previous government was never completed ⁵.

The Logistics Cluster says there is no national carrier and that only UNHAS, the UN Humanitarian Air Service, flies domestically ³. It names Versatile Air Services as a private charter company offering domestic passenger and cargo flights ³. It says the Sierra Leone Civil Aviation Authority licenses aviation and oversees aerodromes, and that foreign aircraft need a permit applied for at least 120 hours before landing ³.

Other airstrips listed

The Logistics Cluster lists several upcountry strips and helipads, many used by UNHAS during the Ebola response ³. It says most have no fuel, navigation aids, lighting, fire-fighting equipment or air traffic control ³.

Earlier domestic services

Awoko reported in an unsigned article, with a page date of 30 October 2015, that Versatile Air Services planned to resume an air taxi service to Bonthe on Sherbro Island ⁶. It said a 4-seater and an 8-seater had landed at night in Bonthe, and that the company had repaired the runway and waiting room and installed runway lights ⁶. It said the company planned to hire ten more workers once the Minister approved its activities ⁶. No fares were given ⁶.

Helicopter shuttles once linked Freetown and Lungi. Reuters reported on 4 June 2007, in a report carried by the Mail and Guardian, that a Paramount Airlines Mi-8 helicopter exploded and crashed at Lungi airport on the Sunday ⁷. It said 22 people were killed, most of them Togolese sports officials ⁷. The report said Paramount ran passenger helicopter shuttles between Freetown and Lungi ⁷. It quoted the general manager of the Airports Authority, Donald Bull, saying there was an explosion on board before landing ⁷.