Banjul International Airport is located on the airport property. In the event of an emergency on any of the NASA Space Shuttles, Banjul International Airport had been selected as an augmented landing site. Gambia was the perfect location when the shuttle was launched with a low, 28-degree inclination. In 2001 NASA announced that Banjul airport would no longer be used as an augmented landing site because latterly, NASA would launch shuttles up at 51.6 degrees to the International Space Station, making air bases in Spain and France more suitable for an emergency landing. The airport was the main hub of Gambia Bird until
Plymouth-Banjul Challenge into a Welsh Ambulance and two Canadians who bought a manual car in France and spent the next few weeks learning to drive it. Since 2007, the rally also has a group of cars continuing on to Bamako, Mali. The 2009/2010 Banjul Challenge was called off by its organiser Julian Nowill due to Mauritanian security concerns (French tourist murders and Spanish aid workers kidnappings), but two teams from group 1 and three teams from group 3 pushed on regardless. Team midlifecrises (Paul James Gadsdon and Steph Copson) and team homesick (Chris Freestone) from group 1 made it all the way