Chlef Aboubakr Belkaid International Airport — Chlef, Algeria

Chlef Aboubakr Belkaid International Airport serves a city that had to rebuild its identity as much as its buildings after the catastrophic earthquake of October 1980 devastated the town then known as El Asnam, killing thousands and leveling much of its housing stock; the settlement was subsequently renamed Chlef and reconstructed under stricter building codes. The airport sits in the fertile Chelif River valley of northwestern Algeria, a region historically given over to cereal farming, viticulture, and citrus groves stretching toward the Mediterranean coast. Domestic flights connect the city to Algiers and other Algerian hubs, supporting the administrative and agricultural economy of Chlef Province. The field's runway infrastructure exceeds what current civilian traffic alone would require, a pattern common among airports built or upgraded during Algeria's post-independence infrastructure push. Surrounding hills give way to the broad alluvial plain that has long made this stretch of the Chelif valley among the most productive farmland in the country.