Port Bouet Airport
| Port Bouet Airport | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Military / Public | ||||||||||
| Serves | Abidjan | ||||||||||
| Location | Port-Bouët, Côte d'Ivoire | ||||||||||
| Hub for | Air Côte d'Ivoire | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 29 m / 95 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 5°15′41.1″N 003°55′32.8″W / 5.261417°N 3.925778°W | ||||||||||
| Website | aeria-ci.com | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
 ABJ
|
|||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
| Statistics (2013) | |||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
Sources: List of the busiest airports in Africa ·
|
|||||||||||
| Passengers | 1,178,362 |
|---|---|
| Passenger change 12–13 |
 +22.5% |
| Aircraft movements | 28,422 |
| Movements change 12–13 |
+16% |
Port Bouet Airport (IATA: ABJ, ICAO: DIAP), also known as Félix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport, is located 16 km (9 nmi; 10 mi) south east of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. It is the largest airport in the country for air traffic. The airport is the main hub of the national airline Air Côte d'Ivoire. The Félix Houphouët-Boigny airport is connected to Europe — primarily via Air France, which offers ten weekly flights and seasonal A380 service, and also Brussels Airlines — and to the rest of Africa and the Middle East. Usually, the airport is served by over 20 airlines, covering more than 35 destinations.
The airport is managed by Aeria, a private Ivorian company, who continually developed the airport over the decades and contributing to making it one of the most modern and one of the main hubs of West Africa.
Disturbances that took place in Côte d'Ivoire in the early 2000s had a negative impact on the airport. It is a strategic infrastructure for both the evacuation of foreign nationals and the delivery of military equipment. In November 2004, during the French–Ivorian clashes that occurred in Abidjan, the airport was looted and damaged. It was taken back by French troops and returned to the Ivorian government in the second half of November. The airport was later refurbished by the Ivorian government and modernized with new modern facilities.
On the night of 2 to 3 April 2011, the airport was again taken by the French troops in order to evacuate French nationals and foreigners, as the final assault against the presidential palace was announced, during the battle for Abidjan. After the civil war ended in April 2011, the airport was returned to the Ivorian government and development projects, paused for almost a decade, were restarted.
Following the gradual recovery of economic activities in Côte d'Ivoire from 2012, investments and projects to increase the capacity of the airport, provided in March 2010, are in the works since October 2011.
In February 2012, Abdoulaye Coulibaly, president of Aeria's board of directors, indicated that he wanted to make the airport suitable for the Airbus A380. Air France did not deny that it could eventually use the A380 on the Paris-Abidjan route if there were sufficiently strong economic growth.
...
Wikipedia