Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport (JIB)

At a glance

• Codes: IATA JIB, ICAO HDAM (OurAirports, HDAM).
• Runway: one paved runway, 09/27, 10,335 feet (about 3,150 metres) long; the field is 49 feet above sea level (OurAirports). The runways run east–west, so with a westerly wind aircraft approach straight over the city (Wikipedia, Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport).
• Where: in the town of Ambouli, about 6 km from the centre of Djibouti City, on a site of about 10 square kilometres (same source).
• Terminal: a single terminal with one departure gate and one baggage belt (same source).
• Website: aeroport-jib.com.

History

In 1948 a hard runway and a terminal were built at Ambouli, creating French air base 188, made official in July 1949. The runway was lengthened in the 1960s (Wikipedia). In the mid-1970s it was enlarged for more international airlines, with the state-owned Air Djibouti flying regular routes, and it grew further after independence in 1977 through a series of renovations (same source). For the Somali community of Djibouti see Somalis in Djibouti.

Passengers

In 2010 the airport served 176,861 passengers (Wikipedia). Somali carriers fly between Djibouti and Hargeisa, Mogadishu and other cities; Wikipedia lists Jubba Airways schedules and AeroRoutes reported a Djibouti–Mogadishu service from July 2024 (AeroRoutes, June 2024; Jubba Airways schedules). See Airlines in Somalia.

A military airfield as much as a civil one

Wikipedia states that military traffic makes up about 75% of the airport's traffic (Wikipedia). The forces based on or beside the field include:

• France: the 5th Overseas Interarms Regiment, army helicopters, and the air force's base 188 with Mirage 2000-5 fighters and transport aircraft (French Ministry of Armed Forces).
• United States: Camp Lemonnier, on the south side of the airfield, a former French Foreign Legion camp that houses Combined Joint Task Force–Horn of Africa. In 2014 the US signed a new 20-year lease (Wikipedia).
• Japan: the Japan Self-Defense Forces base set up in 2009 on a 12-hectare site next to the airport, with two P-3C aircraft and 180 personnel, its only base outside Japan, aimed at protecting Japanese ships from piracy (Wikipedia).
• Italy: the Italian Air Force, supporting the European Union's naval force against piracy off Somalia (same Wikipedia article).
• Djibouti: the Djibouti Air Force, on the south-west side.

Air traffic control dispute

US military officials said American flights made up more than half of the airport's 30,000 departures and arrivals in 2014. Documents reported by the Washington Post in 2015 described US consultants counting an average of 2,378 controller errors per 100,000 operations over three months at the Djiboutian-run control tower (Washington Post, April 2015). The Djibouti government called the allegations exaggerated or made up, and US officials said conditions had improved; from 2014 US Navy controllers volunteered to teach English to new Djiboutian controllers (Wikipedia; Navy news).

Related

• Port of Djibouti
• Airports and airstrips of Djibouti