NEW AIRPORT BUILDING; HOUPHOUET BOIGNY PRIVATE JET; OFFICIAL OPENING; AIR HOSTESS IN NEW UNIFORM.




Initials PS/V/PW/SS



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Background: PRESIDENT FELIX HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY OF THE IVORY COAST YESTERDAY (11 MAY) INAUGURATED A NEW AIRPORT BUILDING AT ABIDJAN'S PORT BOUET AIRPORT. THE BUILDING COST ABOUT GBP1,385,000 STERLING AND WAS COMPLETED IN TWO YEARS.

THE NEW BUILDING IS CAPABLE OF HANDLING UP TO 600,000 PASSENGERS A YEAR. TRAFFIC AT PORT BOUET HAS ALMOST DOUBLED IN FIVE YEARS FROM 72,000 PASSENGERS A YEAR IN 1960 TO 134,000 IN 1965.

PRESIDENT HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY CUT SHORT HIS HOLIDAY IN SWITZERLAND TO ATTEND THE OPENING. A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT WAS DUE TO OPEN THE AIRPORT BUILDING BUT THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN FRANCE PREVENTED HIM FROM DOING SO.

BEFORE COMING BACK TO THE IVORY COAST THE PRESIDENT STAYED IN EUROPE LONG ENOUGH TO CONFER WITH FRENCH LEADERS WITH WHOM HE IS CLOSELY ALLIED.

THE NEW AIRPORT BUILDING IS THREE TIMES BIGGER THAN THE PREVIOUS ONE WHICH IS ADJACENT. ITS AREA IS 12,400 SQ. METRES (133,476 SQUARE FEET) AND RISES TO TWO STOREYS ABOVE GROUND LEVEL. ALL WINDOWS ARE OF TINTED GLASS TO CUT DOWN GLARE AND HEAT AND THE ENTIRE BUILDING IS AIR CONDITIONED.

ALL THE VARIOUS SECTIONS ARE CLEARLY SIGN POSTED TO FACILITATE THE UNRESTRICTED MOVEMENT OF PASSENGERS. ALL THE COUNTERS ARE MANNED BY IVORIENS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RECENT RESOLUTION OF OCAM COUNTRIES CONCERNING THE AFRICANISATION OF POSTS.

THE NEW BUILDING IS REGARDED BY MANY AS A SHOW CASE TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD.