Osvaldo Vieira International Airport
| Osvaldo Vieira International Airport | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
  OXB | |||||||||||
| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | N/A | ||||||||||
| Serves | Bissau | ||||||||||
| Location | Bissau, Guinea-Bissau | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 39 m / 129 ft | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 11°53′42″N 15°39′13″W / 11.89500°N 15.65361°W | ||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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Osvaldo Vieira International Airport (IATA: OXB, ICAO: GGOV) is an airport that serves the city of Bissau, the capital city of Guinea-Bissau. It is the only international airport in the country.
Osvaldo Vieira International Airport has one runway, heading 03/21, with a length of 3,200 metres (10,500 feet). The altitude of this runway is 39 m (128 ft). This runway is also one of the three in Guinea-Bissau that are paved.
History
Previously known as Bissalanca, during the Guinea-Bissau War of Independence 1963–1974 it was used as a base by the Portuguese Air Force.
The airport had to be closed on June 7, 1998 due to intense fighting in and around Bissau. It was officially reopened in July 1999 when a TAP Portugal plane carrying Prime Minister Francisco Fadul, along with numerous other dignitaries from both Portugal and Guinea-Bissau, landed at Osvaldo Vieira.[1]
On December 10, 2013, TAP Portugal suspended operations to Osvaldo Vieira International Airport after local police forces threatened the crew of Flight TP202 bound for Lisbon and forced the crew to board 74 Syrian refugees who had arrived in Bissau via Morocco and Turkey, and who were holding forged Turkish passports.[2]
Airlines and destinations
Currently, TACV flies to Praia via Dakar twice a week. Royal Air Maroc offers service to Casablanca six times a week, where there are onward connections to European destinations. ASKY Airlines serves Lomé and Dakar twice a week. After TAP Portugal suspended flights to Bissau in late 2013, the airport remained without flights to Lisbon until late October 2014, when euroAtlantic Airways announced a weekly flight between Bissau and Lisbon.[3]
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| ASKY Airlines | Dakar, Lomé[4] |
| euroAtlantic Airways | Lisbon |
| Royal Air Maroc | Casablanca |
| TACV | Dakar, Praia[5] |
Airlines that have served the airport in the past include Air Afrique, Air France, Aeroflot, Cubana, Air Sénégal International, Air Bissau, Gambia Bird, TAAG, TAP Portugal, Halcyonair and Mauritania Airlines International.
See also
External links
- Airport information for GGOV at World Aero Data. Data current as of October 2006.
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References
- ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on February 7, 2015. Retrieved January 5, 2015.
- ↑ Oliveira, Mariana; Henriques, Ana; Ribeiro, Nuno (2013-12-12). "SEF despista eventuais radicais entre sírios que entraram em Portugal com passaportes falsos" [Portugal's Foreigner and Frontier Service tracks eventual radicals among Syrians who entered the country with false passports]. Público (in Portuguese) (Lisbon). Retrieved 2016-04-16.
- ↑ "Portugal's euroAtlantic secures Guinea-Bissau contract". CH Aviation (Chur, Switzerland). 2014-11-04. Retrieved 2016-04-16.
- ↑ September, 2014 Timetable, http://www.flyasky.com/asky/horaires/oxb
- ↑ http://airlineroute.net/2015/02/09/vr-jun15/