Rabah Bitat Airport

Rabah Bitat Airport
El Mellah Airport

IATA: AAE – ICAO: DABB

AAE
Location of airport in Algeria

Summary
Airport type Public
Operator EGSA-Constantine
Serves Annaba, Algeria
Elevation AMSL 5 m / 16 ft
Coordinates 36°49′45″N 7°48′50″E / 36.82917°N 7.81389°E / 36.82917; 7.81389Coordinates: 36°49′45″N 7°48′50″E / 36.82917°N 7.81389°E / 36.82917; 7.81389
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
01/19 3,000 9,843 Asphalt
05/23 2,290 7,513 Asphalt
Statistics (2013)
Passengers 466,053
Passenger change 12–13 Increase50.8%
Aircraft movements 8,348
Movements change 12–13 Increase67.0%
Sources: AIP[1] DAFIF,[2][3] ACI's 2013 World Airport Traffic Report.

Rabah Bitat Airport (IATA: AAE, ICAO: DABB), formerly known as Les Salines Airport, and popularly as El Mellah Airport is an international airport located 9 km south of Annaba, a city in Algeria.[1] It is named after Rabah Bitat, a president of Algeria (1978-1979).

Facilities

Terminal

The terminal has an annual capacity of 500,000 passengers.

A project to build a new international terminal has been awarded to the Egyptian company Arab Contractor. The terminal should be completed in 2007, leaving the existing one for hajj flights and peak season charters to Europe.

Statistics

  2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Passengers
Total 416,022 435,451 349,008 348,503 360,121
Domestic 316,751 331,580 239,114 247,855 250,285
International 99,271 103,871 109,894 100,648 109,836
Freight
Total 302.750 357.270 329.148 328.180 359.217
Domestic 185.532 180.773 147.519 215.883 237.124
International 117.218 176.497 181.629 112.297 122.093
Aircraft movements
Total 9,060 6,468 6,071 5,995 6,203
Domestic 8,089 5,439 4,849 4,893 5,041
International 971 1,029 1,177 1,102 1,162

Airlines and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Aigle AzurMarseille, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly
Air Algérie[4]Algiers, In Amenas, Istanbul-Atatürk, Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Oran, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Paris-Orly
Tassili AirlinesAlgiers, Hassi Messaoud

World War II

During World War II the airport was known as Bone Airfield, and was used by the German Luftwaffe. Later captured by the United States Army, the USAAF Twelfth Air Force in the Western Desert Campaign in 1942-1943.

In November 1942 the Allies invaded French Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch). The British airborne operations in North Africa started on 12 November, when the 3rd Battalion Parachute Regiment carried out the first battalion sized parachute drop, on Bone airfield between Algiers and Tunis. The remainder of the brigade arrived by sea the next day. Bone Airfield was the base of 111 Squadron RAF, a Spitfire squadron under Squadron Leader Tony Bartley. One notable pilot to fly from Bone on occasion was Wing Commander Adrian Warburton who was an infrequent visitor after crash landing there on the 15th of November 1942.

References

  1. 1 2 AIP and Chart from Service d'Information Aéronautique - Algerie (French)
  2. ↑ Airport information for DABB at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.Source: DAFIF. Retrieved 2007-09-24.
  3. ↑ Airport information for AAE / DABB at Great Circle Mapper. Source: DAFIF (effective October 2006). Retrieved 2007-11-26.
  4. ↑ "Air Algérie Route Map". Retrieved January 22, 2011.

External links

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