Asmara International Airport

Asmara International Airport
Summary
Airport type Military/Public
Serves Asmara, Eritrea
Elevation AMSL 7,661 ft / 2,335 m
Coordinates 15°17′30.67″N 38°54′38.40″E / 15.2918528°N 38.9106667°E / 15.2918528; 38.9106667Coordinates: 15°17′30.67″N 38°54′38.40″E / 15.2918528°N 38.9106667°E / 15.2918528; 38.9106667
Map
ASM
Location of airport in Eritrea
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
07/25 9,842 3,000 Asphalt

Asmara International Airport, formerly known as Yohannes IV International Airport (IATA: ASM, ICAO: HHAS), is the international airport of Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. It is the country's largest airport and, as of Spring 2017, the only one receiving regularly scheduled services.

History

The airport was constructed by the Italian colonial authorities in 1922, the first such facility to be opened in Italian Eritrea. It served as the main military airport in the territory. In the mid-1930s, the airport (called Aeroporto Civile di Asmara) began offering civilian and commercial flights.

On 7 July 1935, an agreement was signed with Brtitish "Imperial Airways" to connect Asmara to Khartoum. A regular Kassala-Khartoum-Asmara-Massawa 770 km commercial route was subsequently started with a Caproni 133 of the Italian Ala Littoria.[1][1]


During World War II, the airport was nearly destroyed by the British. It was later renovated in the 1950s, and reopened to offer flights to Addis Ababa and other cities in Ethiopia. With Eritrea's independence in the 1990s, the airport became an international portal to the new nation.

In April 2003, after improvements to the airport's runways, Eritrean Airlines started regular services between Asmara and Frankfurt, Milan, Nairobi and Rome. In 2004, it served 136,526 passengers (+11.8% vs. 2003).

Facilities

The airport has capacity restrictions due to its small terminal, short runway and high 1.5-mile (2300m.) altitude. Consequently, some large jet aircraft (like an A380, MD-11 or 747) cannot fly to the airport. Unsuitable aircraft would instead need to use the Massawa International Airport on the Eritrean coast. Lufthansa, however, operated Airbus A340 aircraft on a FRA-JED-ASM service as recently as 2012.

The airport is also an Eritrean Air Force base.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Air Arabia Sharjah[2]
EgyptAir Cairo
Eritrean Airlines Addis Ababa,[3] Cairo, Dubai-International, Jeddah, Khartoum, Milan-Malpensa
Ethiopian Airlines Addis Ababa[4]
flydubai Dubai-International[5]
Nova Airways Khartoum
Sudan Airways Khartoum
Tarco Airlines Khartoum
Turkish Airlines Istanbul-Atatürk[6]

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.

  1. 1 2 Flavio Riccitelli (A.I.D.A.). "ALA LITTORIA S.A. (1934–1941)". Il Postalista. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  2. ↑ Air Arabia begin operations to Asmara from 10 December 2017
  3. ↑ https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/279564/eritrean-airlines-adds-addis-ababa-service-from-mid-july-2018/
  4. ↑ "Ethiopian Airlines resumes Asmara service from mid-July 2018". routesonline. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  5. ↑ http://www.flydubai.com/en/news/article/flydubai-announces-flights-to-eritreas-capital-asmara/
  6. ↑ "Turkish Airlines Adds Asmara Service from late-August 2014". Airline Route. 5 May 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2014.

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