Félix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport (IATA: ABJ, ICAO: DIAP), also known as Port Bouët Airport, is located 16 km (9 nmi; 10 mi) south east of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. It is the largest airport in the country for air traffic. The airport is the main hub of the national airline Air Côte d’Ivoire. Named after the first president of Ivory Coast, Félix Houphouët-Boigny, this international airport is connected to Europe — primarily via Air France, which offers fourteen weekly flights and A380 service, and also Brussels Airlines — and to the rest of Africa and the Middle East. Usually, the airport is served by over 20 airlines, covering more than 35 destinations.

Félix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport
IATA: ABJ ICAO: DIAP
Summary
Airport type	Military / Public
Serves	Abidjan
Location	Port-Bouët, Ivory Coast
Hub for	Air Côte d’Ivoire
Elevation AMSL	29 m / 95 ft
Coordinates	5°15′41.1″N 3°55′32.8″W
Website	aeria-ci.com
Map
ABJ Location of Airport in the Ivory Coast
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 03/21 3,000 9,842 Macadam
Statistics (2017)
Passengers 2,070,000 Passenger change 16–17 +13.2%

History

Check-in area

Departure gates

The airport is managed by Aeria, a private Ivorian company, who continually developed the airport over the decades and contributing to making it one of the most modern and one of the main hubs of West Africa.

Disturbances that took place in Ivory Coast in the early 2000s had a negative impact on the airport. It is a strategic infrastructure for both the evacuation of foreign nationals and the delivery of military equipment. In November 2004, during the French–Ivorian clashes that occurred in Abidjan, the airport was looted and damaged. It was taken back by French troops and returned to the Ivorian government in the second half of November. The airport was later refurbished by the Ivorian government and modernized with new modern facilities.

On the night of 2 to 3 April 2011, the airport was again taken by the French troops in order to evacuate French nationals and foreigners, as the final assault against the presidential palace was announced, during the battle for Abidjan. After the civil war ended in April 2011, the airport was returned to the Ivorian government and development projects, paused for almost a decade, were restarted.

Following the gradual recovery of economic activities in Ivory Coast from 2012, investments and projects to increase the capacity of the airport, provided in March 2010, are in the works since October 2011.

In February 2012, Abdoulaye Coulibaly, president of Aeria’s board of directors, indicated that he wanted to make the airport suitable for the Airbus A380. Air France did not deny that it could eventually use the A380 on the Paris-Abidjan route if there were sufficiently strong economic growth.

On 4 May 2012, PROPARCO loans 10 billion CFA francs (15 million euros) to Aeria to fund a major expansion and modernization program for the airport. This loan is part of the renewal of Aeria’s concession, effective 1 January 2010, for a period of 20 years. This concession provides investment programs in increments of five years. The first slice of 24 million dollars, includes the renovation of the international terminal, the rehabilitation of the charter terminal and development of new infrastructure.

In addition, they refurbishment included an extension of the international terminal of a surface 11 000 to 26 000 m², the refurbishment of the aircraft parking area, renovation of access roads and the construction of a new parking lot. The ultimate goal is to create a commercial zone next to the airport, with a lodging area, hangars, a convention center, a free zone, office buildings, warehouses, exhibition halls, a shopping center and housing for dedicated staff. On 16 June 2012, the Radisson Hotels group announced the laying of the first stone of the Radisson Blu hotel on the airport grounds. The Radisson Blu opened in the spring of 2016 and has over 200 rooms and suites, as well as a restaurant, outdoor pool and fitness center. Also on the airport grounds, ONOMO Hotels operates a 118-room select-service property. Both the ONOMO and the Radisson Blu are accessible from the passenger terminal via shuttle buses.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Before the decade of political and military turmoil, the Felix-Houphouet-Boigny airport was among the most important in West Africa, with passenger traffic exceeding one million travelers in the late 1990s. The succession of political and military crises seriously affected the country’s image and reduced the importance of the airport in the sub-region in terms of traffic, but in recent years, as stability and strong economic growth have returned, airport traffic has been growing at a fast pace, and is now at its highest ever. In 2017, the airport handled 2.070 million passengers, the highest number in its history.

Ground transport

The airport is to be served by the new Abidjan Metro, construction of which started in November 2017. The metro should enter commercial service in 2022 and reach the airport by mid-2023.

Accidents and incidents

• 3 January 1987: a Varig Boeing 707-379C registration PP-VJK operating flight 797 from Abidjan to Rio de Janeiro-Galeão crashed due to a failure on engine 1 shortly after take-off. While attempting to return to the airport for an emergency landing, it crashed on a field 18 km away from Abidjan’s airport. Of the 51 passengers and crew aboard, a single passenger survived.
• 30 January 2000: Kenya Airways flight 431, crashed into the sea shortly after take-off from Port Bouet. Of the 179 passengers and crew on board the Airbus A310, only ten people survived.
• 14 October 2017: Valan International Cargo Charter Antonov An-26 ER-AVB crashed into the sea shortly before landing on a flight from Ouagadougou. Four of the ten people on board were killed.

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