Francisco Mendes International Airport

Francisco Mendes International Airport
Summary
Airport typeDefunct
OperatorAeroportos e Segurança Aérea (ASA)
LocationPraia, Cape Verde
Opened1961 (1961)
Closed6 October 2005 (2005-10-06)
Coordinates14°55′34″N 23°29′41″W / 14.9261°N 23.4948°W / 14.9261; -23.4948

Francisco Mendes International Airport (IATA: RAI, ICAO: GVFM) was an airport located on Santiago Island in Cape Verde. It was opened in 1961. It was located about 2 km (1.2 mi) east of central Praia in the southeastern part of the island of Santiago. After Cape Verdean independence, the airport was named after Francisco Mendes, a Guinea-Bissau independence activist and that country's first Prime Minister.