Félix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport — Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

Félix Houphouët-Boigny led Côte d'Ivoire to independence from France and served as its first president for more than three decades, and the country's busiest airport, ABJ, carries his name in Abidjan, the coastal city that still functions as the nation's economic capital even though Yamoussoukro holds the official title. Just 21 feet above the lagoon it sits beside, the airport makes do with one runway that still handles the highest volume of any facility in Francophone West Africa outside Dakar, underscoring Abidjan's weight as a regional banking and shipping center. The city's lagoon-side setting and French colonial architecture give it a distinct character among West African capitals, and the airport's traffic mixes business travel tied to finance and trade with connections onward to the rest of the region. Air France and other European carriers maintain regular service here, a holdover from the deep ties between Côte d'Ivoire and its former colonial ruler. Despite years of political instability in the 2000s and 2010s, Abidjan's airport has remained the primary air gateway to one of West Africa's larger economies.