Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport

Napoleon Bonaparte Airport
Aéroport d’Ajaccio-Napoléon-Bonaparte
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator CCI d'Ajaccio/Corse du Sud
Serves Ajaccio, France
Elevation AMSL 17 ft / 5 m
Coordinates 41°55′26″N 008°48′09″E / 41.92389°N 8.80250°E / 41.92389; 8.80250Coordinates: 41°55′26″N 008°48′09″E / 41.92389°N 8.80250°E / 41.92389; 8.80250
Website Napoleon Bonaparte Airport
Maps

Corsica region of France
LFKJ
Location of the airport in Corsica
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
02/20 2,407 7,897 Bituminous concrete
Statistics (2014)
Passengers 1,366,020
Passenger Change 13-14 Increase1.2%
Source: French AIP[1]

Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport (French: Aéroport d’Ajaccio-Napoléon-Bonaparte, IATA: AJA, ICAO: LFKJ), formerly “Campo dell’Oro Airport”, is the main airport serving Ajaccio on the French island of Corsica. It is located in Ajaccio, a commune of the département of Southern Corsica, 5 km (3.1 mi) east of the harbour.[1] The airport is the main base of regional airline Air Corsica, which operates services to Metropolitan France. It is named for Napoleon Bonaparte, who was born in Ajaccio.

History

Campo dell’Oro, before aviation, was an alluvial plain at the mouth of the Gravona. The meaning of “Field of Gold” remains obscure; some 19th century authors refer to a “rich cropland”; others, to a malaria-infested marshland. A grass flying field existed there before World War II but apparently offered no transportation services, as the first regular flights to Marseille began with the institution of a seaplane service in 1935 from Ajaccio Harbor.

In 1940, a Vichy Air Corp unit was kept inactive at Campo dell’Oro. The liberation of Corsica began with the landing by sea in 1943 of I Corps at Ajaccio in Operation Vésuve. A few months later Fighter Group GC2/7 of the Free French Air Force, a French unit of the Royal Air Force, were operational on the grass field at Campo dell’Oro with Spitfires. Heavy aircraft were unable to land and came to mishap in the soft surface.

In 1944 the United States Army Air Forces took over the airport and put down a hard surface of perforated metallic mats from which a squadron of P-51’s flew.[2][3] They defended B-24’s flying from new airfields constructed on the east coast of Corsica. Campo dell’Oro was a challenge for the larger aircraft because of its relatively short runways and proximity to the mountains. Toward the end of the war, the runways were paved, the foundation of the modern airport.

On December 1, 1981, Inex-Adria Aviopromet Flight 1308 crashed while on approach to this airport, killing all on board.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Air Corsica Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris-Orly, Toulouse
Seasonal: Bordeaux,[4] Charleroi,[5] Clermont-Ferrand, London-Stansted
Air France Paris-Orly, Paris-Charles de Gaulle
Ak Bars Aero Seasonal charter: Moscow-Domodedovo[6]
Brussels Airlines Seasonal: Brussels[7]
Chalair Aviation Seasonal: Limoges, Perpignan
easyJetSeasonal: London-Gatwick, Lyon, Paris-Charles de Gaulle
easyJet SwitzerlandSeasonal: Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva
HOP! Seasonal: Agen, Aurillac, Brive-la-Gaillarde, Caen, Châteauroux-Centre, Castres, La Rochelle, Limoges, Lyon, Nantes, Poitiers
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda
SmartWings Seasonal: Prague[8]
Swiss International Air Lines Seasonal: Geneva
Transavia Seasonal: Amsterdam
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels[9]
Volotea Seasonal: Beauvais, Bordeaux, Brest, Caen, Lille, Montpellier, Nantes, Strasbourg, Toulouse

Other facilities

Air Corsica has its head office on the airport property.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 LFKJ – AJACCIO NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. AIP from French Service d'information aéronautique, effective 11 October 2018.
  2. ↑ Office of Assistant Chief of Air staff, Intelligence (1992). "The AAF in Southern France". The United States Army Air Forces in World War II. Headquarters, Army Air Forces Washington, D.C. (Center for Air Force History). Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  3. ↑ Long, Marc (7 March 2007). "Calamity in Corsica". Aviation and Air Combat Articles. SimHQ. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  4. ↑ 2018, UBM (UK) Ltd. "Air Corsica plans Bordeaux links from July 2017".
  5. ↑ "Vol, séjours, billets d'avion - Air Corsica".
  6. ↑ "Летом возобновятся чартеры из Москвы на Корсику". Travel.ru. 25 April 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2013.
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 2013-10-17.
  8. ↑ 2018, UBM (UK) Ltd. "Smartwings Adds New Routes in S16".
  9. ↑ https://www.tuifly.be/en/destinations/france/ajaccio
  10. ↑ "Relations Clientèle Archived 18 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine.." CCM Airlines. Retrieved on 12 February 2010.

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