Ahmed Ben Bella Airport

Ahmed Ben Bella Airport (Template:Langx), formally Es-Sénia Airport (Template:Comma separated entries) is an airport located 4.7 nm (8.7 km) south of Oran (near Es Sénia), in Algeria.

History

During World War II, La Sénia Airport was used by the French Air Force as a military airfield, first by the Armée de l'Air, and after June 1940, by the Armistice Air Force (Template:Langx) of the Vichy government.

During the Operation Torch landings in 1942, La Sénia was one of the primary objectives of the assault on Oran on 9 November. A paratroop task force was to directly seize La Sénia, with an armored task force to thrust inland to insure the capture of the field. Just after daylight, eight Albacore dive bombers from H.M.S. Furious and six Hurricane fighter escorts from each of the two auxiliary carriers swung back over La Sénia airfield in broad daylight to be greeted by strong antiaircraft fire and Vichy fighters. The airfield was attacked in response by six 250-pound general-purpose bombs with which it accurately struck and wrecked the empty hangars on the northwestern side of the airdrome, inflicting destruction which was later to be regretted. In the ensuing dogfights, five Dewoitine 520 French fighters were claimed shot down and others damaged. A second attack on La Sénia airfield were delivered a few minutes later by ten Seafires from H.M.S. Furious in low-level strafing runs against grounded planes and antiaircraft batteries. Again Vichy French fighters contested the action. The Vichy fighters, however only defended the airfield vicinity and did not oppose the ground forces landing at Oran Harbor. The planned air assault against the airfield was redirected, and the airfield was captured by Company B, of the 1st Armored Regiment about 1000, after many Vichy Aircraft already flown off, presumably to French Morocco. A few remained dispersed on the ground or in the hangars.

After its capture, the airport was used by the United States Army Air Forces Twelfth Air Force as a combat airfield during the North African Campaign. The following units were assigned to the base in 1942 and 1943:

• HQ, XII Fighter Command, 12 November–December 1942; 12 January – 20 March 1943
• HQ, 51st Troop Carrier Wing, 28 March – 13 May 1943
• 3d Reconnaissance Group, 10–25 December 1942 (Various Reconnaissance aircraft)
• 31st Fighter Group, 12 November 1942 – 7 February 1943, Supermarine Spitfire
• 52d Fighter Group, 14 November 1942 – 1 January 1943, Supermarine Spitfire
• 86th Bombardment Group, 12 May – 3 June 1943, A-36 Apache
• 320th Bombardment Group, 2 December 1942 – 28 January 1943, B-26 Marauder

Once the combat units moved east to other airfields in Algeria and Tunisia during the late spring of 1943, the airfield came under the control of Air Transport Command, under which it functioned as a stopover en route to Algiers airport or to Port Lyautey Airfield, in French Morocco on the North African Cairo–Dakar transport route for cargo, transiting aircraft and personnel.

Expansion

Andrade Gutierrez, a Brazilian company has won a contract to construct a new runway in Oran Airport, located in the second largest city in Algeria. The construction was estimated to cost EUR 20 million. Oran has a population of around 650,000. Being the second largest city in the country, Oran is an important industrial, educational and cultural centre. The construction work at Oran airport is the second contract won by the company in Algeria. The new 9,843 feet long runway 07R/25L has been operational since 12 February 2009.

Currently, the airport is composed of two terminals, one for domestic flights and the other for international flights. The international terminal is basically the previous airport, while the domestic terminal is a recent "huge tent" as the Algerians call it.

A new international terminal has been built; Terminal 3 has a surface area of 41,000 m2, which should allow the reception of 3.5 million passengers, extendable to 6 million passengers per year, which will bring the total capacity with the current terminal to 5.5 million passengers. It has 6 telescopic gangways as well as two cargo hangars with a surface area of 2,000 m2 and a capacity of 15,000 t/year. It also is equipped with photovoltaic panels for its electrical energy needs. It was inaugurated on 23 June 2022 by president Abdelmadjid Tebboune.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled passenger flights at Oran Ahmed Ben Bella Airport: Template:Airport-dest-list

Statistics

Traffic by calendar year. Official ACI Statistics

	Passengers	Change from previous year	Aircraft operations	Change from previous year	Cargo (metric tons)	Change from previous year
2005	850,198	Increase 2.39%	10,865	Decrease 2.76%	1,374	Decrease11.58%
2006	865,704	Increase 1.82%	10,908	Increase 0.40%	1,961	Increase42.72%
2007	971,134	Increase12.18%	11,166	Increase 2.37%	2,857	Increase45.69%
2008	994,273	Increase 2.38%	11,859	Increase 6.21%	2,122	Decrease25.73%
2009	1,101,797	Increase10.81%	14,129	Increase19.14%	1,336	Decrease37.04%
2010	1,085,753	Decrease 1.46%	15,323	Increase 8.45%	1,189	Decrease11.00%
2014	1 558 614	Increase %	19 222	Increase %		%
2015	1,675,930	Increase 7.09%	20,276	Increase 5.2%	843	%
2016	1,851,910	Increase 11%	21,929	Increase 8.15%	1,270	Increase50.6%
Source: Airports Council International. World Airport Traffic Reports (Years 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009 and 2010)

External links

• Official website
• Oran Es Sénia Airport Translated into ENGLISH
• Current weather for DAOO at NOAA/NWS
• Template:ASN