Bastia – Poretta Airport

Bastia – Poretta Airport^[a] (IATA: BIA, ICAO: LFKB) is an airport serving Bastia on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica. It is located 17 km (11 mi) south-southeast of Bastia at Lucciana,^[1] both of which are communes of the Upper Corsica department.

Bastia – Poretta Airport Aéroport de Bastia Poretta Aeroportu di Bastia Poreta
IATA: BIA ICAO: LFKB
Summary
Airport type	Public
Operator	CCI of Bastia and Upper Corsica
Serves	Bastia
Location	Lucciana, Corsica, France
Elevation AMSL	26 ft / 8 m
Coordinates	42°33′00″N 009°29′05″E / 42.55000°N 9.48472°E / 42.55000; 9.48472
Website	bastia.aeroport.fr
Map
LFKB Location of the airport in Corsica Show map of Corsica LFKB LFKB (France) Show map of France
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 16/34 2,520 8,268 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Passengers 1,489,038 Passenger traffic change 24.1%
Source: French AIP,^[1] Aeroport.fr^[2]

History

 

Airphoto of Borgo Airfield, 15 August 1944. Note the large number of B-17s on the parking apron, probably used during the Invasion of Southern France.

In 1944, during World War II, the airport was used by the United States Army Air Forces Twelfth Air Force. On 31 July 1944, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the legendary French pilot, took off from this airport and disappeared, on a reconnaissance flight over France in a Lockheed P-38 Lightning.

USAAF combat units assigned:^{[clarification needed]}

• 414th Night Fighter Squadron, (Twelfth Air Force), 5 February–July 1944; 5 September – 13 October 1944, Bristol Beaufighter
• 527th Fighter Squadron, 86th Fighter Group, (Twelfth Air Force), 12 July-23 September 1944, P-47 Thunderbolt
• 416th Night Fighter Squadron, (Twelfth Air Force), 14–23 August 1944, P-61 Black Widow
• 417th Night Fighter Squadron, (Twelfth Air Force), February–April 1944; 25 April – 7 September 1944, Bristol Beaufighter^[3]
• 5th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, (3d Reconnaissance Group), 11 July – 24 September 1944, P-38/F-5 Lightning
• 23rd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, (3d Reconnaissance Group), 11 July – 24 September 1944, P-38/F-5 Lightning
• 111th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, (XII Tactical Air Command), 21 July – 27 August 1944, P-51/F-6 Mustang
• 42nd Bombardment Wing was headquartered at the airfield, 21 September – 24 November 1944.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Bastia – Poretta irport:

Airlines	Destinations
Air Corsica	Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris–Orly Seasonal: Charleroi, Dole, Toulon
Air France	Paris–Orly Seasonal: Clermont-Ferrand, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Rennes
British Airways	Seasonal: London–Heathrow
easyJet	Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse, Bordeaux, Geneva, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, Lyon, Nantes, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Toulouse
Eurowings	Seasonal: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart
Lübeck Air	Seasonal: Lübeck
Lufthansa	Seasonal: Frankfurt, Munich
Luxair	Seasonal: Luxembourg
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Seasonal: Copenhagen, Stockholm–Arlanda
Transavia	Seasonal: Brest, Gothenburg, Rotterdam/The Hague
Volotea	Seasonal: Bordeaux, Brest, Caen, Lille, Lyon, Montpellier, Nantes, Strasbourg, Toulouse

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at BIA airport. See Wikidata query.

Notes

1. French: Aéroport de Bastia Poretta, Corsican: Aeroportu di Bastia Poreta

References

1. LFKB – BASTIA PORETTA. AIP from French Service d'information aéronautique, effective 5 October 2023.
2. "Résultats d'activité des aéroports français 2022" (PDF). aeroport.fr. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
3.   This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency.
   • Maurer, Maurer. Air Force Combat Units of World War II. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. ISBN 0-89201-092-4.
   • Maurer, Maurer, ed. (1982) [1969]. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (PDF) (reprint ed.). Washington, DC: Office of Air Force History. ISBN 0-405-12194-6. LCCN 70605402. OCLC 72556.

External links

  Media related to Bastia Airport at Wikimedia Commons

• (official site) (in English)
• at Union des Aéroports Français (in French)
• Current weather for LFKB at NOAA/NWS
• Accident history for BIA at Aviation Safety Network