Monastir Habib Bourguiba International Airport (french: link=no, Aéroport International de Monastir–Habib Bourguiba, AIMHB, ar, مطار الحبيب بورقيبة الدولي) is an airport serving Monastir and

Sousse Sousse or Soussa ( ar, سوسة, ; Berber:''Susa'') is a city in Tunisia, capital of the Sousse Governorate. Located south of the capital Tunis, the city has 271,428 inhabitants (2014). Sousse is in the central-east of the country, on the Gulf ...

areas in Tunisia. The Tunisian Civil Aviation and Airports Authority (OACA) awarded the management of the airport to

TAV Airports Holding TAV Airports Holding ( tr, TAV Havalimanları Holding) is a Turkish airport operation and services firm that is part of Groupe ADP. It is one of the world's largest airport operators, providing services to 1 million flights and 152 million passen ...

in March 2007.TAV: Monastir Airport will remain open and continue serving passengers
/ref> The airport is named after the former president

Habib Bourguiba Habib Bourguiba (; ar, الحبيب بورقيبة, al-Ḥabīb Būrqībah; 3 August 19036 April 2000) was a Tunisian lawyer, nationalist leader and statesman who led the country from 1956 to 1957 as the prime minister of the Kingdom of T ...

, who was born in Monastir.

History

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, the airport was known as ''Monastir Airfield'' and was used by the

United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

Twelfth Air Force The Twelfth Air Force (12 AF; Air Forces Southern, (AFSOUTH)) is a Numbered Air Force of the United States Air Force Air Combat Command (ACC). It is headquartered at Davis–Monthan Air Force Base, Arizona. The command is the air component to U ...

81st Fighter Group 081 may refer to: Telephony * 081, the telephone dialing code for the City of Naples and surroundings in Italy * 081, a former dialling code for London, UK (1990–1995) * 081, a telephone area code for mobile operators in Lebanon * 081, a mobi ...

during the North African Campaign. The 81st flew

P-39 Airacobra The Bell P-39 Airacobra is a fighter produced by Bell Aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces during World War II. It was one of the principal American fighters in service when the United States entered combat. The P-39 was used by the ...

s from the airfield between 26 May and 10 August 1943.

Overview

The airport activity mainly serves tourists coming to visit Monastir,

and the surrounding resorts (Monastir-Skanes and Port El Kantaoui in particular). Almost all charter flights are concentrated within the tourist season. The main airlines operating currently at the airport are

Nouvelair Nouvelair Limited Company (french: Nouvelair Société Anonyme, ar, الطيران الجديد تونس), trading as Nouvelair Tunisie, or simply Nouvelair, is a Tunisian airline with its registered office in Tunis, while its head office in the ...

and

Tunisair Société Tunisienne de l'Air, or Tunisair ( ar, الخطوط التونسية) is the national airline of Tunisia. Formed in 1948, it operates scheduled international services to four continents. Its main base is Tunis–Carthage International ...

. With a capacity of 3.5 million passengers per year, the terminal covers 28,000 m². The airport led the country in terms of traffic with 4,279,802 passengers in 2007. Like all Tunisian airports, the airport was originally managed by the Office of Civil Aviation and Airports (OACA). However, in January 2008, it came under the management of the Turkish consortium

for a period of 40 years, under the concession.

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Monastir Airport:

Access

The airport is served by trains on the electrified, metre-gauge

Sahel Metro The Sahel Train is an electrified, metre gauge railway and suburban rail line with trains serving Sousse and Mahdia, with a spur to Monastir, in Tunisia. The line has overhead electrification at 25 kV, 50 Hz. Stations The line's stations ...

line and between

and

Gare Habib Bourguiba Monastir Gare Habib Bourguiba Monastir is the main railway station in Monastir, Tunisia. It is operated by the and named for Habib Bourguiba. Trains from the station run on the electrified, metre-gauge Sahel Railway line and serve Mahdia to the south, o ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

* Maurer, Maurer. ''Air Force Combat Units of World War II''. Maxwell AFB, Alabama: Office of Air Force History, 1983. . *

External links

Tunisia Monastir International Airport
– official site

* * {{authority control Airports in Tunisia Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Tunisia Airports established in 1968