Basra International Airport

Basrah International Airport
مطار البصرة الدولي
Maṭār al-Baṣrah al-Duwalī
Summary
Airport type Military/Public
Operator Iraqi Government
Serves Basra, Iraq
Hub for Iraqi Airways
Elevation AMSL 11 ft / 3 m
Coordinates 30°32′56.0″N 47°39′44.9″E / 30.548889°N 47.662472°E / 30.548889; 47.662472Coordinates: 30°32′56.0″N 47°39′44.9″E / 30.548889°N 47.662472°E / 30.548889; 47.662472
Website www.basrainternationalairport.com
Map
BSR
Location of airport in Iraq
Runways
Direction Length Surface
ft m
14/32 13,124 4,000 Concrete

Basrah International Airport (Arabic: مطار البصرة الدولي‎) (IATA: BSR, ICAO: ORMM) is the second largest international airport in Iraq, and is located in the southern city of Basra.

History

Construction

The airport was built in the 1980s and then developed in the 1980s by the Iraqi Government department State Organisation for Roads and Bridges (SORB) as a gateway to the only port in Iraq. This second phase of development was completed by a joint venture comprising Strabag Bau AG of Cologne, Billfinger & Berger of Manheim both in Germany and Universale of Austria in Spring 1988. It is claimed that the airport was built only as a facility for VIPs and was only used rarely.

Renovation and military use

Renovation of the airport was supposed to proceed with the construction of a new terminal under German contract but the project prematurely ceased with the outbreak of the 1991 Gulf War. Actual development proceeded in the airport only after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Some facilities were refurbished under a contract by United States Agency for International Development. The project is broad as it includes building air traffic control towers and other navigational facilities, as well as the construction of transportation and communications facilities.

The airport was eventually reopened in June 2004. The event was marked by the traditional sheep sacrifice as an Iraqi Airways Boeing 727 jet landed from Baghdad. It was the beginning of a new domestic service in Iraq between Baghdad and Basrah. However, many of the passengers complained about the lack of basic facilities. Problems included air conditioning and toilets.

Reconstruction of the airport is still under way to improve the facilities. Iraqi Airways has already operated routes from this airport, and was its second hub.

The airport is also currently in the process of civilianisation as part of the rebuilding of the country as part of Operation Telic (British Armed Forces) of the Multi-National Force – Iraq.

Between 2003 and 2009 there was a significant Royal Air Force presence at the airport as No. 903 Expeditionary Air Wing was deployed here with a variety of fixed-wing and rotary such as:

Fixed-wing

Rotary

The unit was re-deployed to Camp Bastion, Afghanistan during mid 2009.[1]

The United States army has also deployed a number of aircraft to Basra irregularly:

The Danish Air Force also deployed some aircraft:

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
AtlasGlobal Istanbul-Atatürk (suspended)[2]
Cham Wings Airlines Damascus[3]
EmiratesDubai-International
FlyDamasDamascus
flydubaiDubai-International
Iraqi AirwaysAmman-Queen Alia, Baghdad, Beijing-Capital,[4] Beirut, Cairo, Copenhagen, Delhi, Dubai-International, Erbil, Istanbul-Atatürk, Kuala Lumpur–International, Mashhad, Sulaymaniyah
Seasonal: Minsk[5]
Middle East AirlinesBeirut
Nile AirCairo
Royal JordanianAmman-Queen Alia
Qatar AirwaysDoha
Turkish AirlinesIstanbul-Atatürk, Istanbul-Sabiha Gökçen[6]

Ground operations

Following the American control and since 2002, SkyLink Arabia has been providing ground operations and fuel supply at the airport.[7] In 2014 Group holding services with its subsidiary Basra ground handling services company with the partnership of Iraq airways took over the ground handling operations at the airport.

See also

References

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

  1. ↑ "903 Expeditionary Air Wing". Royal Air Force. Retrieved 21 October 2014.
  2. ↑ 2018, UBM (UK) Ltd. "AtlasGlobal Expands Iraq Service from Sep 2015".
  3. ↑ chamwings.com - Where we fly retrieved 9 September 2018
  4. ↑ squirrellabs. "Cloud Gateway Error page". www.ia.gov.iq.
  5. ↑ "Iraqi Airways Opens Regular Seasonal Flight To Minsk - BelarusFeed". 21 January 2017.
  6. ↑ 2018, UBM (UK) Ltd. "Turkish Airlines Adds Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen – Basra Service from Mar 2016".
  7. ↑ "Home - SKA International Group". Ska-arabia.com. Retrieved 2018-08-22.
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