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.^[1] It is named after seventeenth-century jigjiga ruler Garad Wiil-Waal.^[4]

Quick Facts Gerad Wilwal Airport, Summary ...

Gerad Wilwal Airport
IATA: JIJ ICAO: HAJJ
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
Map
HAJJ Location in Ethiopia (Somali region in red)
Runways
Direction Length Surface m ft 03/21 2,500 8,202 Asphalt
Source:,[1][2] STV[3]

Close

Jijiga's original airfield is located northwest of the city center at 09°21′38″N 42°47′16″E.

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]