Bastia – Poretta Airport
Bastia – Poretta Airport (IATA: BIA, ICAO: LFKB) is an airport serving Bastia on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica. It is located 17 km (11 mi) south-southeast of Bastia at Lucciana, both of which are communes of the Upper Corsica department.
Airphoto of Borgo Airfield, 15 August 1944. Note the large number of B-17s on the parking apron, probably used during the Invasion of Southern France.
History
In 1944, during World War II, the airport was used by the United States Army Air Forces Twelfth Air Force. On 31 July 1944, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the legendary French pilot, took off from this airport and disappeared, on a reconnaissance flight over France in a Lockheed P-38 Lightning.
USAAF combat units assigned:
- 414th Night Fighter Squadron, (Twelfth Air Force), 5 February–July 1944; 5 September – 13 October 1944, Bristol Beaufighter
- 527th Fighter Squadron, 86th Fighter Group, (Twelfth Air Force), 12 July-23 September 1944, P-47 Thunderbolt
- 416th Night Fighter Squadron, (Twelfth Air Force), 14–23 August 1944, P-61 Black Widow
- 417th Night Fighter Squadron, (Twelfth Air Force), February–April 1944; 25 April – 7 September 1944, Bristol Beaufighter
- 5th Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, (3d Reconnaissance Group), 11 July – 24 September 1944, P-38/F-5 Lightning
- 23rd Photographic Reconnaissance Squadron, (3d Reconnaissance Group), 11 July – 24 September 1944, P-38/F-5 Lightning
- 111th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, (XII Tactical Air Command), 21 July – 27 August 1944, P-51/F-6 Mustang
- 42nd Bombardment Wing was headquartered at the airfield, 21 September – 24 November 1944.
Airlines and destinations
The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Bastia – Poretta airport:
| Airlines | Destinations |
|---|---|
| Air Corsica | Lyon, Marseille, Nice, Paris–Orly Seasonal: Charleroi, Dole, Toulon |
| Air France | Paris–Orly |
| easyJet | Seasonal: Basel/Mulhouse, Bordeaux, Geneva, Lisbon, London–Gatwick, Lyon, Paris–Charles de Gaulle |
| Eurowings | Seasonal: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Nuremberg (begins 29 June 2024), Stuttgart |
| Lufthansa | Seasonal: Frankfurt, Munich |
| Luxair | Seasonal: Luxembourg |
| Norwegian Air Shuttle | Seasonal: Copenhagen, Stockholm–Arlanda |
| Transavia | Seasonal: Brest, Gothenburg, Rotterdam/The Hague |
| Volotea | Seasonal: Bordeaux, Brest, Caen, Lille, Lyon, Montpellier, Nantes, Strasbourg, Toulouse |
Statistics
 | Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. There is more info on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org. |
Annual passenger traffic at BIA airport.
See Wikidata query.