Bastia – Poretta Airport

Bastia – Poretta Airport (French: Aéroport de Bastia Poretta, 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
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorCCI of Bastia and Upper Corsica
ServesBastia, Corsica, France
LocationLucciana
Elevation AMSL26 ft / 8 m
Coordinates42°33′00″N 009°29′05″E
Websitebastia.aeroport.fr
Map
LFKB
Location of the airport in Corsica
LFKB
LFKB (France)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
16/34 2,520 8,268 Asphalt
Statistics (2018)
Passengers1,525,159
Passenger traffic change 8.9%
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:

  • 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
AirlinesDestinations
Air Corsica Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris–Orly
Seasonal: Charleroi,[4] Dole, Gothenburg, London–Stansted, Toulon
Air France Paris–Orly
Seasonal: Bordeaux, Castres, Clermont-Ferrand, Lyon, Metz/Nancy, Montpellier, Nantes, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Pau, Perpignan, Rennes, Strasbourg, Toulouse
Air France Hop Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Seasonal: Angers, Bordeaux, Rouen
ASL Airlines France Seasonal: Oujda, Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Atlantic Airways Seasonal: Copenhagen
British Airways Seasonal: London–Heathrow[5]
Brussels Airlines Seasonal: Brussels[6]
Chalair Aviation Seasonal: Limoges, Perpignan[7]
easyJet Seasonal: Berlin–Schönefeld, Bordeaux, London–Gatwick, London–Stansted, Lyon, Manchester, Nantes, Paris–Charles de Gaulle, Toulouse, Venice
easyJet Switzerland Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse, Geneva
Eurowings Seasonal: Berlin–Tegel, Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Vienna
Iberia Seasonal: Madrid[8]
Lufthansa Seasonal: Munich, Frankfurt
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Copenhagen, Stockholm–Arlanda
Scandinavian AirlinesSeasonal: Copenhagen, Stockholm–Arlanda
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels
Volotea Seasonal: Beauvais,[9] Brest, Bordeaux, Caen, Lille, Lyon, Madrid,[10] Nantes, Rennes ,[9] Strasbourg, Toulouse
Vueling Seasonal: Barcelona

References
  1. LFKB – BASTIA PORETTA. AIP from French Service d'information aéronautique, effective 13 August 2020.
  2. "Résultats d'activité des aéroports français 2018" (PDF). aeroport.fr. Retrieved 31 August 2019.
  3.  This article incorporates public domain material from the Air Force Historical Research Agency website http://www.afhra.af.mil/.
    • 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.
  4. http://www.aircorsica.com/avion/billet-avion-bastia.html?language=en
  5. http://mediacentre.britishairways.com/pressrelease/details/86/2018-247/10199?ref=Home
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "airline's website". Archived from the original on 26 August 2017. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  8. https://www.routesonline.com/news/38/airlineroute/283064/iberia-further-expands-european-routes-in-s19/
  9. Liu, Jim. "Volotea outlines post-COVID 19 network expansion in S20". Routesonline. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  10. Da Silva, Gil (7 November 2018). "Bastia - Madrid, nouvelle ligne avec Volotea (Espagne)" (in French). QuelleCompagnie.com. Retrieved 13 November 2018.

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