Jijiga Airport

Wilwal International Airport (IATA: JIJ, ICAO: HAJJ) (also known as Garaad Wiil-Waal Airport) is an airport serving Jijiga, the capital city of the Somali Region in Ethiopia. The airport is located at 09°19′56″N 42°54′43″E, which is 12 km (7 miles) east of the city.[1] It is named after seventeenth-century jigjiga ruler Garad Wiil-Waal.[4]

Wilwal International Airport
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorEthiopian Airports Enterprise
ServesJijiga, Ethiopia
Elevation AMSL5,413 ft / 1,650 m
Coordinates09°19′51″N 042°54′40″E
Map
HAJJ is located in Ethiopia
HAJJ
HAJJ
Location in Ethiopia (Somali region in red)
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
03/21 2,500 8,202 Asphalt
Source:,[1][2] STV[3]

Jijiga's original airfield is located northwest of the city center at 09°21′38″N 42°47′16″E.

History

The first airfield at Jijiga was constructed in 1929. An airplane crash at Jijiga in July 1930 involved the eighth or ninth aircraft introduced to Ethiopia; it was the second airplane disaster in the country. The plane was a Fiat AS-1 with 85 hp engine, a training airplane bought in 1929. The first tests in air pilot training in Ethiopia were passed at the Garad Wiil-Waal Airport by Mishka Babitcheff and Asfaw Ali on 1 and 4 September 1930.[5]

By the 1990s, the Garad Wiil-Waal Airport was one of 10 bases of the Ethiopian Air Force.[5]

Facilities

The airport resides at an elevation of 5,413 feet (1,650 m) above mean sea level. It has one runway designated 03/21 with an asphalt surface measuring 2,400 by 45 metres (7,874 ft × 148 ft).[1]

Airlines and destinations
AirlinesDestinations
Ethiopian Airlines Addis Ababa, Gode, Kabri Dar, Mogadishu[6][7]

References
  1. "Garaad Wiil-waal Airport". Ethiopian Airports Enterprise. Archived from the original on 5 February 2012. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  2. Airport information for Jijiga, Ethiopia (HAJJ / JIJ) at Great Circle Mapper.
  3. Airport information for Wilwal International Airport at Transport Search website.
  4. Powers, Lyall (2 November 2012). Alien Heart: The Life and Work of Margaret Laurence. Univ. of Manitoba Press. p. 127. ISBN 9780887553110.
  5. "Local History in Ethiopia" (PDF). The Nordic Africa Institute. Retrieved 31 May 2008.
  6. "Domestic Scheduled Services". Retrieved 17 December 2019.
  7. https://www.flightsfrom.com/JIJ/destinations#/MGQ
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