Bastia-Poretta International airport
Bastia-Poretta International 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.
Location
42.553°N, 9.484°E · 8 m s. n. m. (26 ft)
General data
Runways · 1
Lengths and surfaces from the public OurAirports register; open runways only.
Radio frequencies · 7 Official publication
Tower
Ground
ATIS (automatic information)
Approach
Flight information
Frequencies from the official publication: AIP France (SIA), AIRAC 01 OCT 2026, checked on Oct 16, 2026. They change with each amendment: not for navigation without checking the current AIP. See the official publication In MHz.
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.
47th Bomb Group (Light) http://www.47thbombgroup.org/ 12 July - 5 September 1944, Douglas A-20, Douglas A-20 Havoc - Wikipedia and A-26 Douglas A-26 Invader - Wikipedia
Airlines operating here · 12
Airlines using it as a main base (hub)
Other airlines with direct routes
Airlines with current passenger routes from here, according to Wikipedia route tables cross-checked from both ends (October 2026).
Photo: G CHP · CC BY-SA 2.5 · view original
Data from OurAirports (public domain) · destinations and airlines from Wikipedia route tables (CC BY-SA, 2026), unless another source is given · profile and photo from Wikidata/Wikimedia Commons (CC0 / CC) · summary and history from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).
Cite
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This page was last updated on October 15, 2026
APA
Vuelopedia. (2026, October 15). Bastia-Poretta International airport (BIA). Retrieved October 16, 2026, from https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BIA
MLA
“Bastia-Poretta International airport (BIA).” Vuelopedia, Fundación Poderia, 15 Oct. 2026, vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BIA. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.
Chicago
Vuelopedia. “Bastia-Poretta International airport (BIA).” Fundación Poderia. Last modified October 15, 2026. https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BIA.
Harvard
Vuelopedia (2026) Bastia-Poretta International airport (BIA). Available at: https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BIA (Accessed: 16 October 2026).
BibTeX
@misc{vuelopedia_en_airport_bia,
author = {{Vuelopedia}},
title = {{Bastia-Poretta International airport (BIA)}},
publisher = {Fundación Poderia},
year = {2026},
date = {2026-10-15},
url = {https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BIA},
howpublished = {\url{https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BIA}},
urldate = {2026-10-16},
note = {Accessed 2026-10-16}
}Wikipedia
{{cite web |url=https://vuelopedia.org/en/airport/BIA |title=Bastia-Poretta International airport (BIA) |website=Vuelopedia |publisher=Fundación Poderia |date=2026-10-15 |access-date=2026-10-16 |language=en}}