Aircraft Disinsection in Mobile, AL: Mobile Downtown Airport (BFM)

About Mobile Downtown Airport

The 9,618-ft runway at Brookley launches everything the MRO campus and the adjacent Airbus manufacturing complex can produce, from freshly assembled narrowbodies to widebodies out of heavy check. Foreign carriers send aircraft to Mobile for maintenance and take them home across the Atlantic and beyond. The bayside industrial complex is one of the Gulf Coast’s aviation anchors. Ferry and delivery departures can be treated, certificate included, on the Brookley ramp.

On the field at BFM

Mobile Downtown Airport (BFM) sits 3 miles south of Mobile, Alabama, at an elevation of 26 feet. Runway 14/32 gives BFM 9,618 feet of asphalt and concrete, 150 feet wide, one of 2 runways on the field. BFM is towered and holds a Part 139 airport operating certificate. BFM is a U.S. Customs landing rights airport, where international arrivals clear by prior arrangement. FBOs serving BFM include Signature Aviation BFM; we treat the aircraft at whichever ramp or hangar it is parked on. The treatment is scheduled around your departure from BFM and completed before passengers arrive.

Where the aircraft disinsection requirement comes from

BFM is where the requirement is satisfied for a non-stop flight, because pre-embarkation treatment belongs at the last port before the destination country. The arriving authority requires the aircraft to have been disinsected; treating it empty here, before boarding, meets that requirement for the countries that accept the method.

Departures from BFM that trigger a disinsection requirement are mostly transatlantic. Italy is the one that catches operators most often, because it applies to aircraft arriving from the United States, and Barbados, Brazil, Paraguay follow. A non-stop crossing from Mobile Downtown Airport makes BFM the last port before the destination, which is exactly where pre-embarkation treatment belongs.

The aircraft disinsection process on the BFM ramp

On the day, the sequence at BFM is simple: our crew is at your hangar or FBO ahead of time, the cabin is confirmed empty and prepared, the treatment is applied to the WHO method through cabin, flight deck and holds, and the aircraft rests, ventilates and is released for boarding after the required wait. Your crew receives the certificate and the details to enter on the General Declaration before the door closes.

BFM at a glance

Countries that require disinsection, served from BFM

From BFM: Chile, Barbados, Brazil, Paraguay, and the rest of the destinations we serve. The full table of aircraft disinsection requirements by country covers every destination we have verified for BFM departures. Australia and New Zealand carry operator paperwork we help with; if either is on a Mobile itinerary, start early.