Tunisia enjoys a relatively well-developed transport infrastructure that includes eight international airports. Tunisia’s principal airport gateway is Tunis-Carthage International Airport, situated 8 km from the center of the city. Other international airports include: Monastir-Habib Bourguiba, Djerba-Zarzis, Tozeur-Nefta, Sfax-Thyna, Tabarka, Gafsa-Ksar, and the most recent, Enfidha International Airport. These airports handle tourism-related charter flights from Europe and are seasonal.
The national airline, Tunisair, is to start direct flights between Tunis to Montreal in June 2016. In 2014, Tunisia and China signed an agreement to allow direct flights between the two countries, but no scheduled flights have started yet.
Over 90% of Tunisia’s foreign commercial trade is conducted by sea. Incoming and outgoing trade operates via Rades port, the country’s principal container facility, which supports 75% of the containers’ traffic. Other principal ports are Sousse, Sfax, Gabes, Skhira, Bizerte, and Zarzis. The port of Skhira specializes in the transport of petroleum. Bizerte and Zarzis have free trade zones. The state enterprise, CTN (Compagnie Tunisienne de Navigation), is the main shipping company in Tunisia. The Tunisian Port Authority (Office de la Marine Marchande et des Ports – OMMP) oversees the management of ports. Sfax, Tunisia’s second largest city and a large commercial center, can also handle a limited amount of container traffic.
The railway network is operated by Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Tunisiens (SNCFT), a public sector company, and a light metro railway operator, Société de Transport de Tunis (TransTu). TransTu runs the public urban railway and bus transport system in Tunis.
A new high-speed train network encompassing 53 miles is to be constructed in Greater Tunis. Funded by the EU, it is slated for completion in 2017. The first phase of the project consists of the acquisition of land, rerouting of the network, as well as the duplication of one tunnel.
The road network is fairly well developed. Major toll highways have been constructed or are in the planning/construction phases. The highways link the major coastal population centers from the Libyan border in the southeast to the Algerian border in the northwest.
Although overall road and telecom infrastructure in Tunisia is developed, regional discrepancies exist. Rural areas in the south and central areas of Tunisia lag behind the major urban centers on the coast.