Departure
95%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Bahrain International Airport (OBBI/BAH) is the principal gateway to the Kingdom of Bahrain, sited on Muharraq Island close to Manama and Muharraq city. It is one of the oldest international airports in the Persian Gulf, tracing its origins back to 1927, and today operates as a major regional and cargo hub with a substantial ILS-equipped runway pair.
Bahrain International Airport sits on Muharraq Island, immediately adjacent to the capital Manama and the city of Muharraq, and serves as the principal international airport for the Kingdom of Bahrain. It is one of the oldest international airports in the Persian Gulf region, with commercial aviation history stretching back to the late 1920s, and it remains a busy hub for both passenger and cargo traffic in the Middle East, making it a substantial and instructive destination for a simulator pilot flying in the Gulf.
The airport lies within the Bahrain Flight Information Region, on Muharraq Island directly next to Manama and the city of Muharraq. Its position at the heart of the Gulf places it close to the airspace boundaries of neighbouring Gulf states, and as a large international airport it sits within controlled airspace appropriate to its scale of scheduled and cargo operations.
Bahrain International Airport has two parallel physical runways aligned 12/30. The main runway, 12L/30R, is 11,970 to 11,973 feet long, has a hard surface, is lit, and is equipped with an ILS. The secondary runway, 12R/30L, is shorter, with recorded lengths of 7,284 feet on 12R and 7,898 feet on 30L; it also has a hard, lit surface. Field elevation is 7 feet.
Radio services at Bahrain International include Approach on 127.85 MHz, ATIS on 127.2 MHz, Ground on 121.675 MHz, an operations frequency on 32.175 MHz, and Tower on 118.5 MHz. The main runway (12L/30R) is equipped with an ILS to support instrument approaches.
Bahrain International Airport's origins date to 1927, when a chartered flight first landed on the site, making it the oldest international airport in the Persian Gulf. The first scheduled commercial airliner to arrive, in 1932, was a Handley Page H.P.42 named Hannibal, flying the London to Delhi route and carrying just 24 passengers over a journey of several days at around 100 miles per hour. From the 1950s BOAC operated multiple weekly services through the airport, including flights to Karachi, Singapore and Hong Kong, and three services a week to Sydney, while a locally based fleet grew from four de Havilland aircraft to include DC-3s serving a growing Gulf network. These developments established Bahrain as one of the most modern and advanced airports in the Persian Gulf at the time, with a good runway, control tower, lighting and communication facilities. In 2008 the airport passed to the management of the newly created Bahrain Airport Company under Gulf Air Holding Company, itself owned by Bahrain's sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat, and in October 2009 a substantial expansion programme was announced.
The airport is managed and operated by Bahrain Airport Company, a subsidiary of Gulf Air Group Holding, and continues to function as a significant aviation hub for the region. It serves a range of scheduled airlines and acts as the regional base for major global cargo operators, including DHL, which has used Bahrain as its Middle East base since the 1980s.