Osvaldo Vieira International Airport

Osvaldo Vieira
International Airport
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator N/A
Serves Bissau, Guinea-Bissau
Elevation AMSL 39 m / 129 ft
Coordinates 11°53′42″N 15°39′13″W / 11.89500°N 15.65361°W / 11.89500; -15.65361
Map
OXB
Location of airport in Guinea-Bissau
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
03/21 3,200 10,499 Asphalt

Osvaldo Vieira International Airport (IATA: OXB, ICAO: GGOV) is the only international airport in Guinea-Bissau, located in the capital city Bissau.

History

Previously known as Bissalanca, during the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence 1963–1974 it was used as a base by the Portuguese Air Force.

The airport had to be closed on June 7, 1998 due to intense fighting in and around Bissau. It was officially reopened in July 1999 when a TAP Portugal plane carrying Prime Minister Francisco Fadul, along with numerous other dignitaries from both Portugal and Guinea-Bissau, landed at Osvaldo Vieira.[1]

On December 10, 2013, TAP Portugal suspended operations to Osvaldo Vieira International Airport after local police forces threatened the crew of Flight TP202 bound for Lisbon and forced the crew to board 74 Syrian refugees who had arrived in Bissau via Morocco and Turkey, and who were holding forged Turkish passports.[2] After TAP Portugal suspended flights to Bissau in late 2013, the airport remained without flights to Lisbon until late October 2014, when euroAtlantic Airways announced a weekly flight between Bissau and Lisbon.[3] However, TAP announced in August 2016 it would resume flights to Bissau by the end of the year.

Facilities

Osvaldo Vieira International Airport has one runway, heading 03/21, with a length of 3,200 metres (10,500 feet). The altitude of this runway is 39 m (128 ft). This runway is also one of the three in Guinea-Bissau that are paved.

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Air Senegal Dakar–Diass (begins 1 October 2018)[4]
ASKY Airlines Dakar–Diass, Lomé[5]
euroAtlantic Airways Lisbon
Royal Air Maroc Casablanca, Praia
TAP Air Portugal Lisbon[6]
Transair Dakar–Diass

Airlines that have served the airport in the past include Air Afrique, Air France, Aeroflot, Cubana, Air Sénégal, Air Sénégal International, Air Bissau, Gambia Bird, TAAG, Halcyonair and Mauritania Airlines International.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "List of airports in Guinea-Bissau". Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
  2. ↑ Oliveira, Mariana; Henriques, Ana; Ribeiro, Nuno (2013-12-12). "SEF despista eventuais radicais entre sírios que entraram em Portugal com passaportes falsos" [Portugal's Foreigner and Frontier Service tracks eventual radicals among Syrians who entered the country with false passports]. Público (in Portuguese). Lisbon. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
  3. ↑ "Portugal's euroAtlantic secures Guinea-Bissau contract". CH Aviation. Chur, Switzerland. 2014-11-04. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
  4. ↑ "Air Senegal outlines proposed regional network from late-Sep 2018". routesonline.com. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
  5. ↑ "ASKY AIRLINES". Flyasky.com. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  6. ↑ "TAP – Air Portugal resumes flights to Guinea-Bissau". Macauhub.com.mo. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
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