Kufra Airport

Coordinates: 24°10′40″N 23°18′50″E / 24.17778°N 23.31389°E / 24.17778; 23.31389
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Kufra Airport

مطار الكفرة
  • AMSL
1,367 ft / 417 m
Coordinates24°10′40″N 23°18′50″E / 24.17778°N 23.31389°E / 24.17778; 23.31389
Map
AKF is located in Libya
AKF
AKF
Location of the airport in Libya
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
02L/20R 3,660 12,008 Asphalt
02R/20L Closed
Sources: WAD[1] GCM[2]

Kufra Airport (IATA: AKF, ICAO: HLKF) is an airport serving Al Jawf, capital of the Kufra District in southeastern Libya. The airport is just east of the city.

History

Kufra Airport began as Buma Airfield, built in the 1930s as a minor facility by the Italians. In early World War II, it provided an air link to Italian East Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian Somaliland). It was captured by Free French units under General Leclerc on 1 March 1941 along with Kufra Oasis.

Libyan Airlines operated a twice-weekly service from

Khartum service with a leased British Aerospace 146 aircraft. Air Libya
also operated an intermittent weekly direct flight to Tripoli with a Boeing 727-200.

In July 2013,

2011 civil war) was reactivated, with the works slated to take 20 months.[3]

Airline and destinations

AirlinesDestinations
Afriqiyah Airways Benghazi, Tripoli–Mitiga
Libyan AirlinesBenghazi, Tripoli–Mitiga

Accidents and incidents

In a

Bristol Blenheim Mk. IV aircraft was ordered to Kufra under the command of Major J.L.V. de Wet to strengthen the garrison air defences. On the morning of 4 May 1942 the three aircraft took off on a familiarization mission. They became lost and landed about 150 kilometres northeast of Kufra. A sandstorm thwarted ground and air search parties, and by the time the lost aircraft were located on 11 May only one of the total 12-man crew was alive.[4]

On 26 August 2008, a hijacked Sudanese Boeing 737 landed at Kufra Airport after having departed at Nyala Airport, Darfur, with destination Khartoum. Earlier, Egyptian authorities had refused the plane to land in their national capital, Cairo.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Airport information for HLKF". World Aero Data. Archived from the original on 5 March 2019. Data current as of October 2006.
  2. ^ Airport information for Kufra Airport at Great Circle Mapper.
  3. ^ "Kufra airport upgrade contract activated with Italian company |". libyaherald.com. Retrieved 21 August 2018.
  4. ^ Coetzee, J.J.M. (December 2001). ""The Tragedy at Kufra"". The South African Military History Society: Military History Journal. 122.
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