Houari Boumedienne Airport

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Coordinates: 36°41′40″N 003°13′01″E / 36.69444, 3.21694

Houari Boumedienne International Airport

IATA: ALG – ICAO: DAAG
Summary
Airport type Public
Operator Egsa
Serves Algiers, Algeria
Elevation AMSL 16 m / 54 ft
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
05/23 3,500 11,482 Asphalt
09/27 3,500 11,482 Asphalt
Sources: Algerian AIP[1] & World Aero Data[2]

Houari Boumedienne Airport (IATA: ALG, ICAO: DAAG) is a public airport located 9 nautical miles (17 km) southeast of Algiers, the capital of Algeria. It is named after Houari Boumedienne. Under French rule, Dar El Beïda, the area at which the airport is located, was known as Maison Blanche and, in much of the literature about the Algerian War of Independence it is called Maison Blanche airport. The airport has a four star rating from Skytrax's airport grading exercise along with seven other airports.[1]

Contents

[edit] Facilities

Entrance to the terminal.
Entrance to the terminal.

[edit] New terminal

The new terminal, covering an area of 82 000 m2, can accommodate more than six million passengers a year.

Hall 1 is dedicated to foreign airlines. Hall 2 is used by the national carrier, Air Algérie.

Dufry Group has opened its first stores at the airport. Both stores measure 320sq m (3,440sq ft) and sell duty-free goods. The stores opened on July 1, 2006, 4 days before the official inauguration of the airport by the Algerian president.

[edit] Terminal 2

This terminal is equipped with 20 registration desks, a cafeteria, tearoom and prayer room. The terminal also has a pharmacy, perfumery, a hairdresser, watches, luggage shops, games and toys and a tobacco/newspaper shop. There are 900 car parking spaces, a taxi stand, a boarding area of 5,000 m2, with a 7 gates, luggage delivery area, and lounges for first-class passengers.[2]

[edit] Algiers Airport

The Company Management Services and Infrastructure Aéroportuaires (SGSIA), more commonly known as "Airport of Algiers", is a Public Company, Economical in the form of a joint stock company (Spa), a subsidiary of Algiers and EGSA Therefore publicly owned. It was established on 1 November 2006 with the purpose to manage and operate the Airport Algiers Houari Boumediene, with a level of quality and high performance. The SGSIA enjoys a transfer of know-how and skills of Aeroports de Paris Management after a management contract with a duration of 4 years. The SGSIA includes 1200 employees.

The International Terminal (Terminal 1) presents a capacity of 6 million passengers per year. It was officially inaugurated on July 5, 2006 by the President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. Currently, international traffic is 2.5 million passengers per year

The Domestic Terminal (Terminal 2) renovated in 2007, has a capacity of 2.5 million passengers per year. It offers conditions of comfort and security comparable to those of Terminal 1. The domestic traffic is 1.5 million passengers per year.

The former national parking has also been upgrading. Became Terminal 3, the latter is intended to flights "pilgrimage" and charter flights.

The new terminal at the airport
The new terminal at the airport

[edit] Projects

The international airport of Algiers will be connected to the second bypass south of Algiers and the east-west highway, through connecting ramps. The second bypass road south of Algiers (Boudouaou-Zéralda) that runs with the southern part of the current southern bypass (Ben Aknoun Dar-El Beïda) will serve the airport through a connection to Dar El-Beïda, while users from the east or west will use a ramp at the Eucalyptus straight to the airport. The second bypass south of Algiers will be completed in July 2008. However the end of 2009 is estimated for the completion of the east-west highway.[3].

The airport infrastructure will be improved, such as the construction of new terminals, new control tower and the renovation and extension of runways.

In 2008 Egsa (the company that is in charge of the airports in Algeria) will build a third terminal at Houari Boumediene, to be called Terminal 3, with 300.000 m2 of area and a capacity of 20 million passenger. Construction is planned to start in 2008, with completion in 2012.

[edit] Duty free shops

The President of the Republic opened two shops in Hall 1 (320 m² shop size) and Hall 2 (640 m² shop size) for Air Algérie flights and all other airlines respectively. The stores offers duty free products, including perfume and cosmetics, tobacco, liquor, food, confectionery, fashion and accessories.

Most of the shops are located in the departure zone after clearing departure passport control, however there are also a number of shops in the arrival zone.

[edit] Airline ticket offices

Airline ticket offices are located in the airport: Aigle Azur, Air Algerie, Air France, British Airways, Qatar Airways, Royal Air Maroc, Tassili Airlines, Tunisair.

[edit] Parking

The airport has a car park with a capacity of 70,000 cars.[citation needed]

[edit] Statistics

Passenger use, total cargo, and aircraft movements have increased since 2003.[3]

  2003 2004 2005 2006
Passengers
Total 2,631,807 3,413,417 3,403,453 3,483,340


[edit] Transport links

[edit] Car

The distance to the center of Algiers is 20 km, take the route N5 direct Bab Ezzouar. When leaving the domestic terminal, take the route that connects with the route out of the international terminal.

[edit] Bus

Buses link the airport to downtown Algiers every 30 minutes.

[edit] Taxi

Prices vary beween 200-500 DA.

[edit] Subway

The Algiers Metro (line L1) will connect the airport with the center of Algiers. This connection is planned to be completed by 2010.

[edit] Airlines and destinations

The following airlines have scheduled services to Houari Boumedienne Airport as of June 2007:

Check-in sector
Check-in sector

[edit] Terminal 1

[edit] Hall 1

[edit] Hall 2

  • Air Algérie (Abidjan, Amman, Bamako, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Barcelona, Beijing [begins in 2008] [5], Beirut, Berlin-Schönefeld [seasonal], Bordeaux, Brussels, Cairo, Casablanca, Dakar, Damascus, Dubai, Frankfurt, Geneva, Istanbul-Atatürk, Jeddah, Lille, London-Heathrow, Luqa [seasonal], Luxembourg [seasonal], Lyon, Madrid, Marseilles, Metz/Nancy, Montreal, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, New York-JFK[4], Niamey, Nice, Nouakchott, Ouagadougou, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly, Rome-Fiumicino, Toulouse, Tripoli, Tunis)

[edit] Terminal 2

  • Air Algérie (Adrar, Annaba, Batna, Bechar, Biskra, Chlef, Constantine, Djanet, El Golea, El Oued, Gara Djebilet, Ghardaia, Hassi Messaoud, Illizi, In Amenas, In Salah, Jijel, Oran, Ouargla, Setif, Tamanrasset, Tebessa, Tiaret, Timimoun, Tindouf, Tizi Ouzou [begins 2009], Tlemcen, Touggourt)
  • Tassili Airlines (Djanet, El Golea, El Oued, Ghardaia, Hassi R'Mel, Hassi Messaoud, Illizi, In Amenas, In Salah, Tamanrasset, Tebessa, Touggourt)
  • Algeria Air (Annaba)

[edit] Terminal 3

[edit] Incidents

  • On August 28, 1992, a bomb went off at the airport, 9 died and 128 were injured. Several people were arrested in connection with the bombing, including Hossein Abderrahim, a member of the Islamic FIS political party. He was executed in 1993. In 2002, Abdelghani Ait Haddad, sentenced to death in his absence, took refuge in Britain after residing in France for nine years.
  • On December 24, 1994 Air France Flight 8969 an Airbus A300, bound for Paris, was seized by 4 Islamic terrorists during take-off preparations; 3 passengers were killed before the plane departed. In Marseille a special operations team of the French Gendarmerie stormed the aircraft and killed all 4 hijackers, although 25 passengers were injured.

[edit] References

  1. ^ AIP and Chart from Service d'Information Aéronautique - Algerie (French)
  2. ^ Airport information for DAAG at World Aero Data, retrieved 2007-09-24.
  3. ^ International
  4. ^ Air Algérie veut un accord avec les Etats-Unis

[edit] External links