Monrovia, Liberia – The recent power outage at Roberts International Airport (RIA) has been linked by the Liberia Aviation Authority (LAA) Management to birds hit on a transformer, which is a significant source of electricity for the airport. As a result of the incident, the airport experienced a sudden interruption and darkness.
During a public hearing held at the Capitol Building in Monrovia on Wednesday, April 2, 2025, the Senate’s Joint Committee on Energy and Transport heard testimony from the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC) and the LAA. The purpose of the hearing was to ascertain what caused the RIA outages, which embarrassed the Liberian government nationwide.
At the hearing, Mr. Jonathan Enders, LAA’s Deputy Managing Director for Technical Services, clarified that the occurrence was brought on by the birds hit, which he characterized as a natural catastrophe. An important mechanism for controlling the airport’s power supply, the automated transfer switch (ATS), was badly impacted by the collision, and the transformer was also destroyed.
Garbage dumped near the airport’s perimeter attracts birds, according to LAA management. The Smell No Taste Community’s inhabitants and others in the area, including airport workers, were held accountable by the LAA for wrongfully dumping of rubbish close to the facility, which attracted birds that disrupted the electrical system.
According to reports, the bird strike happened on Sunday, March 25, 2025. The airport responded by inviting an LEC team to evaluate the damage and turning on its own generator. Following a final evaluation on March 30, 2025, the LEC concluded that further damage to the ATS was probably caused by a power spike.
According to Enders, the blackout also damaged a number of electrical parts, such as fuses, relays, power synchronizers, and the ATS. He stressed that although LAA had earlier cleaned a landfill next to the airport, locals had illegally established a second one behind the building, which attracted even more birds. He explained that the runways and VIP lounge were not affected by the power loss, which only impacted the terminal building at RIA.
To stop another incident, Thomas Z. Gonkarwon, the LEC’s acting managing director, gave the Joint Committee a number of suggestions. In order to prevent such events, he suggested a study of the ATS’s internal setup and the creation of a backup or bypass link. In order to maintain power supply in the case of another breakdown, the LEC intends to install a standby transformer with a bypass link as part of its mitigation strategy.
