Kotoka International Airport
Facts on ACC
The airport began as a British Royal Air Force military airfield during the Second World War before being handed to civilian authorities afterward; President Kwame Nkrumah's 1956-58 project converted the base into a terminal with capacity for 500,000 passengers a year.
Source: Wikipedia
The airport is named for Lieutenant General Emmanuel Kwasi Kotoka (1926-1967), a Ghanaian officer decorated for bravery during the UN's Congo deployment in 1960. He helped lead the bloody 1966 coup that overthrew President Kwame Nkrumah, becoming a member of the ruling National Liberation Council.
Source: Wikipedia
Kotoka, the general the airport is named for, was killed defending army headquarters during an abortive counter-coup on 17 April 1967, at a spot that is now the airport's forecourt. Accra's airport, opened under Nkrumah's own 1956-58 development project, was renamed in Kotoka's honor in 1969 — though on 23 February 2026 its designation was officially reverted to Accra International Airport, its original name.
Source: Wikipedia
Terminal 3, a $274 million project whose ground was broken jointly by Ghana's John Dramani Mahama and Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan, opened to passengers in September 2018. It can process 5 million passengers a year (up to 6.5 million with expansion) at a rate of 1,250 an hour.
Source: Wikipedia
The airport shares its site with Air Force Base Accra, a Ghana Air Force installation hosting a squadron of Airbus C295 transports along with Harbin Z-9 and Mil Mi-17 helicopters.
Source: Wikipedia
In 2025 the airport served a record 3.62 million passengers, recovering from just 1.2 million in 2020 when COVID-19 hit air travel; it has been named Africa's best airport in its passenger category for 2019, 2020 and 2021 by Airports Council International.
Source: Wikipedia
Airport City Accra, an urban development ringing the airport, has grown to include Marina Mall, the Accra Marriott, and corporate offices for firms like Vodafone Ghana — official promotion frames it as an economic growth engine rather than just an airport buffer zone.
Source: Wikipedia