Lilongwe Airport

This is a lovely little airport, with few flights, but try to avoid the midday rush when 3 aircraft arrive and depart within an hour, as queues can be bad then. Immigration and issue of visa's is efficient and politely handled, and delivery of baggage is swift. The bus transfer to/from the terminal and the aircraft steps is a bit of a joke, as it is only about 200 yards. There are lots of banks, cell phone companies and a post office on the arrivals level. However there is no easily accessible public transport to the city centre, so it is best to try and share a taxi with a fellow traveller. Departure is also an easy operation, there is a nice pay-to-use lounge off the departure area. Otherwise few shops or eating places, which is hardly surprising given the small number of passengers.

Manageable and friendly this feels like an airport from the 80s. Coming in and going out immigration facilities are fairly efficient. Going out after immigration there are a few shops a bar/cafe and a sitting area. The layout is semi-open and you can watch the planes land (not that many do - this is an airport with very few international flights daily). You go through another security when heading to your gate where you can have your last beer before leaving the country. Overall a good reflection of the country: unpretentious clean friendly and relatively efficient.

Kamuzu Internation Airport (KIA) LLW is a small but pleasant airport. I left at night and had some problems with a taxi not able to find my house so I finally arrived at the airport 30 minutes before take off. No problem at all. The luggage scanning machine was broken so had to open my bags and everything was thoroughly checked but all was in order. Then went past immigration and it's so small up there and the shops were closed at night so couldn't buy anything. There is no smoking area after you pass immigration so keep that in mind if you smoke. All in all fine airport friendly staff one cannot get lost in here like in western airports.

Modest airport staffed by cheerful smiling people - typical Malawian experience. Took about 15 mins to get through immigration and another 15 mins to reclaim bags. Most people's bags are opened at customs for a cursory examination. On the way out check in was a bit Heath Robinson systems were down and bags/boarding passes manually processed. Only downside was the check in agent tagged my bag through to LHR using a handwritten tag and told me unconvincingly it would be fine. Just as well that I took the precaution of checking at Johannesburg as the bag came out on the belt and I had to check it in again. Overall a satisfactory experience.

Lilongwe airport (Malawi) takes you back to some of the delights of 70's travel - no announcements so you have to listen carefully when the staff shout which plane is boarding. Fortunately it's a small and quiet international airport so you can't go too far wrong unless you're asleep! There's enough shops to keep you entertained for 10 minutes there's a cafe and you can watch the planes from the outdoor balcony - and there's not much else. But what it needed to do it did so efficiently and pleasantly - nice to be aware from the security paranoia of LHR or other big western airports. Note - the duty free doesn't come in sealed duty free bags so you do run the risk of losing it all if you transit to somewhere else as we did. A shame as the prices were really ok and I don't know anywhere else outside the country that you can get Malawi gin!