As LAA ends rural airstrips tour

Authorities at the Liberia Airport Authority (LAA) have ended a week-long assessment and inspection tour of five rural airstrips in the southeastern region of Liberia.

Airstrips toured included, The R.E. Murray in Greenville, Unification in Sass Town, William R. Tolbert in Grandcess, Alexander Tubman in Harper and William D. Coleman in Zwedru.

According to the Acting Managing Director of LAA, Bishop John Allan Klayee, the tour was aimed at identifying challenges confronting those airstrips and how the LAA could help mitigate them.

He added that part of the tour was to make these airstrips commercially viable, by linking Liberian cities thru air routes; something he said, could ease the burden of traveling for hours via road.

Bishop Klayee said he is optimistic that, with the revival of rural airstrips, Liberian cities could become centers of attraction thru tourism, trade and commerce.

The LAA, Bishop Klayee maintained, will develop a business case to find investors for its inter-city commercial airline plan.

The five-day tour had a team of eleven Liberian Airport Professionals including, Acting MD, Bishop John Allan Klayee; Deputy MD Operations, Sandra Daye; Deputy MD for Technical Services, Paula Fares; Chief Financial Officer, George D. Yuoh; and Spriggs Port Manager, Emmanuel Tarplah; among others.