Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport

Ajaccio Napoleon Bonaparte Airport (French: Aéroport d’Ajaccio-Napoléon-Bonaparte, Corsican: Aeruportu di Aiacciu Nabulione Buonaparte; IATA: AJA, ICAO: LFKJ), formerly "Campo dell'Oro Airport", is the main airport serving Ajaccio on the French island of Corsica. It is located in Ajaccio, a commune of the département of Southern Corsica, 5 km (3.1 mi; 2.7 nmi) east of the harbour.[1] The airport is the main base of regional airline Air Corsica, which operates services to Metropolitan France. It is named for Napoleon Bonaparte, who was born in Ajaccio.

Napoleon Bonaparte Airport

Aéroport d’Ajaccio-Napoléon-Bonaparte
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorCCI d'Ajaccio/Corse du Sud
ServesAjaccio, France
Elevation AMSL17 ft / 5 m
Coordinates41°55′26″N 008°48′09″E
Websitehttp://www.aeroport.fr
Map
LFKJ
Location of the airport in Corsica
LFKJ
LFKJ (France)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
02/20 2,407 7,897 Bituminous concrete
Statistics (2018)
Passengers1,673,308
Passenger traffic change 6.6%
Source: French AIP,[1] Aeroport.fr[2]

History

Campo dell'Oro, before aviation, was an alluvial plain at the mouth of the Gravona. The meaning of "Field of Gold" remains obscure; some 19th century authors refer to a "rich cropland"; others, to a malaria-infested marshland. A grass flying field existed there before World War II but apparently offered no transportation services, as the first regular flights to Marseille began with the institution of a seaplane service in 1935 from Ajaccio Harbor.

In 1940, a Vichy Air Corps unit was kept inactive at Campo dell'Oro. The liberation of Corsica began with the landing by sea in 1943 of I Corps at Ajaccio in Operation Vésuve. A few months later Fighter Group GC2/7 of the Free French Air Force, a French unit of the Royal Air Force, were operational on the grass field at Campo dell'Oro with Spitfires. Heavy aircraft were unable to land and came to mishap in the soft surface.

In 1944 the United States Army Air Forces took over the airport and put down a hard surface of perforated metallic mats from which a squadron of P-51's flew.[3][4] They defended B-24's flying from new airfields constructed on the east coast of Corsica. Campo dell'Oro was a challenge for the larger aircraft because of its relatively short runways and proximity to the mountains. Toward the end of the war, the runways were paved, the foundation of the modern airport.

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Air Corsica Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris–Orly, Toulouse
Seasonal: Charleroi,[5] Clermont-Ferrand, London–Stansted, Toulon[6]
Air France Paris–Orly
Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Air France Hop Seasonal: Brive, Caen, Castres, Lyon, Nantes, Poitiers
Brussels Airlines Seasonal: Brussels[7]
Chalair Aviation Seasonal: La Rochelle,[8] Limoges, Perpignan, Poitiers[8]
easyJetSeasonal: Basel/Mulhouse, Bordeaux,[9] Geneva, Lyon, Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg
Smartwings Seasonal: Prague[10]
Swiss International Air Lines Seasonal: Geneva
Transavia Brest (begins 24 April 2021)[11]
Seasonal: Amsterdam
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels[12]
Volotea Seasonal: Bordeaux, Brest, Caen, Lille, Lyon,[13] Montpellier, Nantes, Rennes,[13] Strasbourg, Toulouse

Other facilities

Air Corsica has its head office on the airport property.[14]

Incidents and accidents

References
  1. LFKJ – AJACCIO NAPOLEON BONAPARTE. AIP from French Service d'information aéronautique, effective 28 January 2021.
  2. "Résultats d'activité des aéroports français 2018" (PDF). aeroport.fr. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  3. Office of Assistant Chief of Air staff, Intelligence (1992). "The AAF in Southern France". The United States Army Air Forces in World War II. Headquarters, Army Air Forces Washington, D.C. (Center for Air Force History). Archived from the original on 17 May 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  4. Long, Marc (7 March 2007). "Calamity in Corsica". Aviation and Air Combat Articles. SimHQ. Archived from the original on 16 May 2008. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  5. "Vol, séjours, billets d'avion – Air Corsica".
  6. https://www.aircorsica.com/flights/toulon/
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. Liu, Jim. "Chalair adds Poitiers – Ajaccio sector in S20". Routesonline. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  9. Liu, Jim. "easyJet S20 new routes as of 27DEC19". Routesonline. Retrieved 31 December 2019.
  10. 2018, UBM (UK) Ltd. "Smartwings Adds New Routes in S16".CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  11. https://www.francebleu.fr/infos/transports/la-compagnie-aerienne-transavia-va-ouvrir-4-nouvelles-lignes-au-depart-de-brest-1612278181
  12. https://www.tuifly.be/en/destinations/france/ajaccio
  13. Liu, Jim. "Volotea outlines post-COVID 19 network expansion in S20". Routesonline. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  14. "Relations Clientèle Archived 18 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine." CCM Airlines. Retrieved on 12 February 2010.
  15. Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident McDonnell Douglas DC-9-81 (MD-81) YU-ANA Ajaccio-Campo dell'Oro Airport (AJA)". www.aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 28 October 2020.

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