- Source: Jijiga Gerad Wilwal Airport
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, which is 12 km (7 miles) east of the city. It is named after seventeenth-century jigjiga ruler Garad Wiil-Waal.
Jijiga's original airfield is located northwest of the city center at 09°21′38″N 42°47′16″E.
History
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.
By the 1990s, the Garad Wilwal Airport was one of 10 bases of the Ethiopian Air Force.
Facilities
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).
Airlines and destinations
References
External links
Accident history for JIJ at Aviation Safety Network
