Bastia – Poretta Airport
Bastia – Poretta Airport[lower-alpha 1] (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 | |||||||||||
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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 | ||||||||||
Website | bastia.aeroport.fr | ||||||||||
Map | |||||||||||
LFKB Location of the airport in Corsica LFKB LFKB (France) | |||||||||||
Runways | |||||||||||
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Statistics (2022) | |||||||||||
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History
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
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Bastia – Poretta irport:
Airlines | Destinations |
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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
References
- LFKB – BASTIA PORETTA. AIP from French Service d'information aéronautique, effective 5 October 2023.
- "Résultats d'activité des aéroports français 2022" (PDF). aeroport.fr. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
- 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
- Bastia Airport (official site) (in English)
- Aéroport de Bastia-Poretta at Union des Aéroports Français (in French)
- Current weather for LFKB at NOAA/NWS
- Accident history for BIA at Aviation Safety Network
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