The Comoros archipelago consists of four main islands aligned along a northwest–southeast axis at the north end of the Mozambique Channel, between Mozambique and the island of Madagascar. Still widely known by their French names, the islands officially have been called by their Swahili names by the Comorian government. They are Grande Comore (Njazidja), Mohéli (Mwali), Anjouan (Nzwani), and Mayotte (Mahoré). The islands' distance from each other—Grande Comore is some 200 kilometers from Mayotte, forty kilometers from Mohéli, and eighty kilometers from Anjouan—along with a lack of good harbor facilities, make transportation and communication difficult. Comoros are sunny islands.
There are a number of systems of transport in the Comoros. The Comoros possesses 880 km (547 mi) of road, of which 673 km (418 mi) are paved. It has three seaports: Fomboni, Moroni and Moutsamoudou, but does not have a merchant marine, and no longer has any railway network. It has four airports, all with paved runways, one with runways over 2,438 m (7,999 ft) long, with the others having runways shorter than 1,523 m (4,997 ft).
Moroni is the largest city, federal capital, and seat of the government of the Union of the Comoros, a sovereign archipelago nation in the Indian Ocean. Moroni means "at the river". Moroni is the capital of the semi-autonomous island of Ngazidja, the largest of the three main islands of the republic. The city's estimated population in 2003 was 41,557 residents. Moroni, which lies along the Route Nationale 1, has a port and several mosques such as the Badjanani Mosque.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled flight serving the route Addis Ababa–Nairobi–Brazzaville–Lagos–Abidjan. On 23 November 1996, the aircraft serving the flight, a Boeing 767-200ER, was hijacked en route from Addis Ababa to Nairobi by three Ethiopians seeking asylum in Australia. The plane crash-landed in the Indian Ocean near Grande Comore, Comoros Islands, due to fuel exhaustion; 125 of the 175 passengers and crew on board, including the three hijackers, died. This is the first recorded instance of a partially successful water landing utilizing a wide-body aircraft. Although Pan Am Flight 6 in 1956 successfully executed a water landing, the plane involved in that incident was a narrow-body Boeing 377 Stratocruiser.
Seychelles International Airport, or Aéroport de la Pointe Larue in French, is the international airport of the Seychelles located on the island of Mahé near the capital city of Victoria. The airport is the home base and the head office of Air Seychelles and features several regional and long-haul routes due to its importance as the gateway to a major international leisure destination.
Grande Comore is an island in Comoros off the coast of Africa. It is the largest island in the Comoros nation. Most of its population is of the Comorian ethnic group. Its population as of 2006 is about 316,600. The island's capital is Moroni, which is also the national capital. The island is made up of two shield volcanoes, with Mount Karthala being the country's highest point at 2,361 m (7,746 ft) above sea level. According to the 2009 revision of the constitution of 2002, it is governed by an elected Governor, as are the other islands, with the federal government being much reduced in power. The name Ngazidja is sometimes seen in the now nonstandard form Njazidja.
Comores Aviation International is the flag carrier of the Comoros. It is privately owned and operates domestic scheduled services, as well as charters mainly to tourist destinations in southern and eastern Africa. Its main base is Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport, Moroni, with a hub at Ouani Airport.
Domoni is the second largest city on the Comorian island of Anjouan in the Indian Ocean and is located on the east coast of the island. It was the capital of the island in the past while the present capital of Anjouan is Mutsamudu.
Prince Said Ibrahim Ben Sultan Said Ali El Maceli Al Ba'alawi was a Comorian politician. He served as a member of the French National Assembly from 1959 until 1970, and as Prime Minister of the Comoros from 2 April 1970 until 16 July 1972. He was the son of Sultan Said Ali Bin Sultan Said Omar, Sultan of Grande Comore.
Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport is an international airport serving Moroni in Comoros. It is named after Prince Saïd Ibrahim. It is located north of the village of Hahaya.
Comoros Premier League is the top division in Comoros, it was created in 1979. One of the venues is 2,000 capacity Stade Said Mohamed Cheikh.
Langatabbetje Airstrip, is an airport on Langatabbetje island in the Moroni River, Suriname.
Martin Garcia Island Airport is the airport of Isla Martín García, a small Argentine island at the head of the Río de la Plata estuary, near the coast of Uruguay.
Yemenia Flight 626 was an Airbus A310-324 twin-engine jet airliner operated by Yemenia that was flying a scheduled international service, from Sana'a in Yemen to Moroni in Comoros, when it crashed on 30 June 2009 at around 1:50 am local time while on approach to Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport, killing all but one of the 153 passengers and crew on board. The sole survivor, 12-year-old girl Bahia Bakari, was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for thirteen hours. Bakari was discharged from the hospital on 23 July 2009.
Bahia Bakari is a French woman who was the sole survivor of Yemenia Flight 626, an Airbus A310, which crashed into the Indian Ocean near the north coast of Grande Comore, Comoros on 30 June 2009, killing the 152 other people on board. 12-year-old Bakari, who had little swimming experience and had no life vest, clung to a piece of aircraft wreckage, floating in heavy seas for over nine hours, much of it in pitch darkness, before being rescued. Her mother, who had been traveling with her from Paris, France, for a summer vacation in Comoros, died in the crash.
Séléa Bambao, the village of Selea-Bambo, is situated in the Bambao region in Grande Comore. Bambao is a well-known region of Grande Comore, and it contains the largest region of the Grande Comore. The capital of Grande Comore, Moroni, is located in the Bambao region.
AB Aviation is a private regional airline and the largest in the Comoros headquartered and based at Prince Said Ibrahim International Airport.
Int'Air Îles is a regional airline based at Ouani Airport, Anjouan in the Comoros. It was founded in 2007 as Inter Îles Air and rebranded to its current name in March 2015. Using a fleet of six turboprop aircraft, the airline serves all three islands of the Comoros, the French territory of Mayotte, Tanzania, and Madagascar.
