Tunis–Carthage International Airport, (, , ) is the

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports, and feature longer runways and have faciliti ...

Tunis Tunis (, ') is the capital city, capital and largest city of Tunisia. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants. , it is the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casabl ...

, the capital of

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

. It serves as the home base for

Tunisair Tunisair () is the national airline of Tunisia. Formed in 1948, it operates scheduled international services to four continents. Its main base is Tunis–Carthage International Airport. The airline's head office is in Tunis, near Tunis Airport. ...

Tunisair Express Tunisair Express (, ) is an airline based in Tunis, Tunisia that was founded on 1 August 1991. Formerly known as Tuninter () and SevenAir (), its parent company is the national carrier Tunisair. It operates to destinations within Tunisia as wel ...

, Nouvelair Tunisia, and Tunisavia. The airport is named for the historic city of

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

, located just east of the airport.

History

The history of the airport dates back to 1920 when the first

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

base in

was built on the

Lake of Tunis The Lake of Tunis ( ''Buḥayra Tūnis''; ) is a natural lagoon located between the Tunisian capital city of Tunis and the Gulf of Tunis (Mediterranean Sea). The lake covers a total of 37 square kilometres, in contrast to its size its depth ...

for the seaplanes of Compagnie Aéronavale. The Tunis Airfield opened in 1938, serving around 5,800 passengers annually on the Paris-

route. During World War II, the airport was used by the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

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 ...

as a headquarters and command control base for the Italian Campaign of 1943. The following known units were assigned: * HQ, 87th Fighter Group, 22 November – 14 December 1943 * 3d Reconnaissance Group, 13 June – 8 December 1943, Lockheed F-4/F-5 Lightning * 5th Reconnaissance Group, 8 September – 8 December 1943, Lockheed F-4/F-5 Lightning Once the combat units moved to Italy,

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies a ...

used the airport as a major transshipment hub for cargo, transiting aircraft and personnel. It functioned as a stopover en route to

Algiers airport Houari Boumediene International Airport () , also known as Algiers Airport or Algiers International Airport, is the main international airport serving Algiers, the capital of Algeria. It is located east southeast of the city. The airport is n ...

or to Mellaha Field near

Tripoli, Libya Tripoli, historically known as Tripoli-of-the-West, is the capital city, capital and largest city of Libya, with a population of about 1.317 million people in 2021. It is located in the northwest of Libya on the edge of the desert, on a point ...

on the North African

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Senegal, largest city of Senegal. The Departments of Senegal, department of Dakar has a population of 1,278,469, and the population of the Dakar metropolitan area was at 4.0 mill ...

transport route. Later, as the Allied forces advanced, it also flew personnel and cargo to

Naples, Italy Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

. Construction on the Tunis-Carthage Airport, which was fully funded by France, began in 1944, and in 1948 the airport become the main hub for

. The airline started operations with

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by the Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper ...

s flying from Tunis-Carthage Airport to

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

Ajaccio Ajaccio (, , ; French language, French: ; or ; , locally: ; ) is the capital and largest city of Corsica, France. It forms a communes of France, French commune, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Corse-du-Sud, and head o ...

Bastia Bastia ( , , , ; ) is a communes of France, commune in the Departments of France, department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest popu ...

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

, Rome,

Sfax Sfax ( ; , ) is a major port city in Tunisia, located southeast of Tunis. The city, founded in AD849 on the ruins of Taparura, is the capital of the Sfax Governorate (about 955,421 inhabitants in 2014), and a Mediterranean port. Sfax has a ...

Djerba Djerba (; , ; ), also transliterated as Jerba or Jarbah, is a Tunisian island and the largest island of North Africa at , in the Gulf of Gabès, off the coast of Tunisia. Administratively, it is part of Medenine Governorate. The island h ...

, and

. The passenger traffic grew steadily from 1951 when 56,400 passengers were carried, 33,400 of them by

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

. The airport offered a convenient stop-over point for several other French airlines over the years, including

Aigle Azur Aigle Azur was a French airline based and headquartered at Paris Orly Airport. The airline operated scheduled flights from France to 21 destinations across Europe, Africa, and the Middle East, with a fleet of Airbus A320 family and A330 aircr ...

with a stop in Tunis on the Paris-

Brazzaville Brazzaville () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Republic of the Congo. Administratively, it is a Departments of the Republic of the Congo, department and a Communes of the Republic of the Congo, commune. Constituting t ...

route, and TAI (Intercontinental Air Transport) with a stop in Tunis on its Paris-

Saigon Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) ('','' TP.HCM; ), commonly known as Saigon (; ), is the most populous city in Vietnam with a population of around 14 million in 2025. The city's geography is defined by rivers and canals, of which the largest is Saigo ...

route. Among foreign companies, the TWA was present, whose lines Rome-New York and Rome-Bombay made stop in Tunis, and the LAI (Italian company) which made the connection Rome-Palermo-Tunis. In 1997, the airport terminal was expanded to ; it consists of two floors (departure and arrival) and has a capacity of 4,400,000 passengers per year. In 2005, the terminal was expanded another , and now has a capacity of 500,000 more passengers annually. On 23 September 2006 a new terminal opened for charter flights. Syphax Airlines commenced a direct flight to Montreal in April 2014.

Airlines and destinations

Passenger

Cargo

Statistics

Other facilities

The head office of the

Tunisian Civil Aviation and Airports Authority The Tunisian Civil Aviation and Airports Authority () (OACA) is a Tunisian public sector organization responsible for the management, operation, maintenance and development of international airports, as well as regional and local control of air navi ...

(OACA) is on the airport property.Welcome to the OACA
."

. Retrieved on 26 January 2011. "GENERAL DIRECTION and SOCIAL HEAD OFFICE International Airport Tunis-Carthage BP 137 et 147- 1080 TUNIS CEDEX – TELEX 13809 – OACA RC 871."

Ground transportation

The airport is served by bus lines and taxis, but not by a railway (the ''L'Aéroport'' station on the TGM suburban rail line does not actually serve it, being several kilometers distant).

Accidents and incidents

On 7 May 2002, EgyptAir Flight 843, a

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

from

crashed 4 miles from Tunis–Carthage International Airport. Of the 62 people on board, 14 were killed.

References

External links

*
Tunisian Civil Aviation and Airports Authority (OACA)
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tunis-Carthage International Airport Airports in Tunisia Buildings and structures in Tunis Transport in Tunis Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces Air Transport Command in North Africa Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Tunisia World War II airfields in Tunisia Airports established in 1938