Gerad Wilwal Airport
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| Summary | |||||||||||
| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||
| Operator | Ethiopian Airports Enterprise | ||||||||||
| Serves | Jijiga, Ethiopia | ||||||||||
| Elevation AMSL | 5,937 ft / 1,810 m | ||||||||||
| Coordinates | 09°19′51″N 042°54′40″E / 9.33083°N 42.91111°E / 9.33083; 42.91111 | ||||||||||
| Map | |||||||||||
  HAJJ Location in Ethiopia (Somali region in red) | |||||||||||
| Runways | |||||||||||
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Gerad Wilwal Airport (IATA: JIJ, ICAO: HAJJ) (also known as Garaad Wiil-Waal Airport) is a public airport serving Jijiga, the capital city of the Somali Region in eastern Ethiopia. The airport is located at 09°19′56″N 42°54′43″E / 9.33222°N 42.91194°E / 9.33222; 42.91194 (Garaad Wiil-waal Airport (new)), which is 12 km (7 miles) east of the city.[1] It is named after seventeenth-century jigjiga ruler Garad Wiil-Waal.[4]
Jijiga's original airfield is located northwest of the city center at 09°21′38″N 42°47′16″E / 9.36056°N 42.78778°E / 9.36056; 42.78778 (Garaad Wiil-waal Airport (old)).
The first airfield at Jijiga was constructed in 1929. An airplane crash at Jijiga in July 1930 involved the eighth or ninth aircraft introduced to Ethiopia; it was the second airplane disaster in the country. The plane was a Fiat AS-1 with 85 hp engine, a training airplane bought in 1929. The first tests in air pilot training in Ethiopia were passed at the Garad Wilwal Airport by Mishka Babitcheff and Asfaw Ali on 1 and 4 September 1930.[5]
By the 1990s, the Garad Wilwal Airport was one of 10 bases of the Ethiopian Air Force.[5]
The airport resides at an elevation of 5,937 feet (1,810 m) above mean sea level. The airport's only runway, designated 03/21, has an asphalt surface and measures 2,400 by 45 metres (7,874 ft × 148 ft).[1]
| Airlines | Destinations |
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| Ethiopian Airlines | Addis Ababa, Gode[6][7] |
Aviation
