Airport type Military / Public Hub for Air Côte d'Ivoire Website aeria-ci.com Code ABJ Phone +225 21 75 79 00 Passenger count 1,178,362 | Serves Abidjan Elevation AMSL 29 m / 95 ft Address Abidjan, The Ivory Coast Elevation 6 m Yearly aircraft movements 28,422 | |
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Location Port-Bouët, Côte d'Ivoire | ||
Air france a380 landing in abidjan port bouet airport july 2015
Port Bouet Airport (IATA: ABJ, ICAO: DIAP), also known as Félix-Houphouët-Boigny International Airport, is located 16 km (9 nmi; 10 mi) south east of Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. 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. The Félix Houphouët-Boigny airport is connected to Europe — primarily via Air France, which offers ten weekly flights and seasonal 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.
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History
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 Côte d'Ivoire 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 Côte d'Ivoire 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, there are provided 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 future Radisson Blu at the airport. The construction of the five-star hotel, which will have 252 rooms, will take 24 months.
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 has seriously affected the country's image and reduced the importance of the airport in the sub-region in terms of traffic. Figure from 1998 is the current highest record of yearly passenger handling for this airport.
Ground transport
The airport is to be served by the new Abidjan Metro, construction of which started in 2015.