Beja Airport

Beja Airport Aeroporto de Beja
IATA: BYJ ICAO: LPBJ
Summary
Airport type	Public
Owner	Government of Portugal
Operator	ANA Aeroportos de Portugal
Serves	Beja, Portugal
Elevation AMSL	636 ft / 194 m
Coordinates	38°04′44″N 007°55′57″W / 38.07889°N 7.93250°W / 38.07889; -7.93250Coordinates: 38°04′44″N 007°55′57″W / 38.07889°N 7.93250°W / 38.07889; -7.93250
Website	ana.pt
Map
LPBJ Location within Portugal
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 01L/19R 3,450 11,319 Asphalt 01R/19L 2,951 9,682 Asphalt
Statistics (2015)
Passengers 233 Passengers change 14-15 73,4% Movements 38 Movements change 14-15 53.1%
Sources: Portuguese AIP, ANA Aeroportos de Portugal

Passengers	233
Passengers change 14-15	73,4%
Movements	38
Movements change 14-15	53.1%

Beja Airport (Portuguese: Aeroporto de Beja; IATA: BYJ, ICAO: LPBJ) is a Portuguese airport that opened doors to civilian flights on April 15, 2011.

Beja Airport, located 9 km (5.6 mi) northwest of Beja, is 150 km (93 mi) away from Lisbon, 120 kilometres (75 mi) from Faro and less than 60 km (37 mi) from Spain. Beja (Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈbɛʒɐ]) is a city in the Beja Municipality in the Alentejo Region, Portugal. The municipality has a total area of 1,147.1 km² (442.9 sq mi) and a total population of 34,970 inhabitants. The city proper has a population of 21,658.

An airbase was established on 21 October 1964, originally built to serve as a training facility for the West German Air Force, due to airspace limitations within West Germany. Until 1993 it was used particularly for weapons training, and in 1987 the Portuguese Air Force's 103 Squadron and its Lockheed T-33 and Northrop T-38 aircraft was relocated from Montijo. After their arrival, the base started to host a mixed array of fixed and rotary-wing trainers, as well as maritime patrol aircraft.

Along with the airports in Lisbon, Porto, Faro, Funchal (Madeira), Porto Santo, Flores, Santa Maria, Ponta Delgada and Horta, the airport's concessions to provide support to civil aviation was conceded to ANA Aeroportos de Portugal on 18 December 1998, under provisions of decree 404/98. With this concession, ANA was also provided to the planning, development and construction of future infrastructures.

In 2011 a new civilian terminal was built and Beja became a dual-use military-civilian airport, aiming to attract low cost carriers. The inaugural flight to Praia, Cape Verde, took place on 13 April 2011. There were also charter flights to the United Kingdom.