Trapani airport

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Aeroporto di Trapani-Birgi
Trapani airport
Characteristics
ICAO code LICT
IATA code TPS
Coordinates

37 ° 54 ′ 41 ″  N , 12 ° 29 ′ 17 ″  E Coordinates: 37 ° 54 ′ 41 ″  N , 12 ° 29 ′ 17 ″  E
Height above MSL 7 m (23  ft )
Transport links
Distance from the city center 15 km south of Trapani
Street SP 21 or A 29 diramazione Birgi
Local transport bus navetta; Connection to the port with AST
Basic data
opening 1961
operator Airgest SpA, since 1992
surface 123 ha
Passengers 411,437 (2019)
Air freight 12.2 t (2019)
Flight
movements 		5,333 (2019)
Start-and runway
13/31 2698 m × 45 m asphalt

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The Trapani airport ( it. : Aeroporto di Trapani-Birgi ) is an open for civil aviation military airfield on the west coast of Sicily in Italy . It is located a good fifteen kilometers south of the center of the city of Trapani near the village of Birgi on the border with the neighboring municipality of Marsala .

Surname

The civil part of the airport is named after the Sicilian entrepreneur and politician Vincenzo Florio , who among other things founded an important shipping company. The military part bears the name of Livio Bassi, a fighter pilot from Trapani who fell in World War II . Trapani-Birgi Airport is called in everyday language after the nearby town of Birgi and the river of the same name.

history

At the end of the 1920s, a military airfield was built immediately east of Trapani near the village of Milo, which was used until 1949. The 1,100 meter long runway was later cut through by the A29dir motorway . The former Trapani-Milo airfield now serves as a research facility for the Italian space agency Agenzia Spaziale Italiana .

Another military airfield was built in the 1930s twelve kilometers south of Trapani in the village of Rilievo (Borgo Rizzo) on the Chinisia River. In 1949 the Trapani-Chinisia airfield took over military operations from Trapani-Milo. Trapani-Chinisia was also used for civilian purposes from 1955 to 1961. With the cessation of military operations, the airfield was completely abandoned in the 1970s. The 1650 meter long runway has largely been preserved.

Trapani-Birgi Airport was opened in 1961 only around three kilometers west of Trapani-Chinisia. Commercial air traffic developed only slowly until it was liberalized in the 1990s. The military section to the north of the runway has served as a forward base for combat aircraft since the 1970s. After repeated tensions with Libya , the Italian Air Force set up a squadron ( 37 ° Stormo , F-104S "Starfighter" ) in 1984 . Shortly afterwards, Trapani-Birgi also became the forward base of the AWACS association of NATO ( E-3A "Sentry" ) based in Geilenkirchen, Germany . Rescue helicopters were also stationed here ( 15º Stormo , HH-3F ). After the F-104S was decommissioned, Aeronautica Militare leased F-16ADF "Fighting Falcon" fighter aircraft from the USA as an interim solution . The last airworthy copies were returned in May 2012.

From March 20 to October 31, 2011, the airport was used as a base for international military operations in Libya . Initially, the civil airport was closed and only partially released again on the tenth day of the air raids. Numerous passenger planes were diverted to Palermo.

Military use

Eurofighter Typhoon in Trapani-Birgi

The base currently (2016) houses two flying units:

  • 37º Stormo with the 18 ° Gruppo, which is equipped with F / TF-2000A Typhoon and whose main task is the provision of the QRA fleet to secure the airspace over western southern Italy.
  • 82 ° Centro SAR, a rescue helicopter unit equipped with HH-139A - CSAR helicopters. This unit is subordinate to the 15 ° Stormo in the northern Italian city of Cervia .

Otherwise the military part serves as an advanced base.

Development of civil transport

The operating company for the civil part of the airport Airgest SpA was established in 1992. At the beginning of the 2000s, the number of passengers was around 50,000 per year, until the low-cost airline Ryanair started flying to Trapani in September 2006 . The number of passengers increased to around one and a half million annually in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, Ryanair offered numerous national connections and 18 international direct connections, including to Germany , Spain , Great Britain , Sweden and Slovakia .

The nearest international airport is Palermo-Punta Raisi Airport, about eighty kilometers away .

Check-in counter 2007
Trapani airport - traffic figures
year Flight movements Passengers Passengers change in%
2019 5,333 411,437 -14.4
2018 5,961 480,524 -62.8
2017 9,559 1,292,957 -13.4
2016 10,858 1,493,519 -5.9
2015 11,607 1,586,992 -0.72
2014 12,536 1,598,571 -14.90
2013 15,838 1,878,557 19th
2012 13,439 1,579,000 7.4
2011 13,218 1,471,000 −12.6
2010 14,833 1,683,000 57.4
2009 10,038 1,070,000 100.5
2008 7,307 533,000 5.2
2007 8,700 507,000 62.3
2006 6,379 312,000 −19.8
2005 6,864 390,000 −5.2
2004 6,964 410,000 66.7
2003 4,457 246,000 393.6
2002 2,958 50,000 −20.0
2001 3,248 62,000 82.3

Transport links

Terminal after renovation in 2010

The passenger terminal, renovated in 2009, is located in the south-east of the airport site.

  • Car : Trapani, Marsala and the southwest coast of Sicily can be easily reached via Strada statale 115 Sud Occidentale Sicula , Palermo via the A29dirA motorway , which begins immediately north of the airport and joins the A29 at Alcamo .
  • Bus : AST buses connect the airport with downtown Trapani. Terravision and Salemi offer trips to Marsala, Trapani and Palermo, Lumia drives to various cities on the southwest coast.
  • Rail : The terminal does not have its own rail connection. Mozia-Birgi train station is two kilometers south, but there is no bus connection from the airport. Trains run from Mozia-Birgi to Marsala and Castelvetrano in the south, as well as to Trapani and Palermo.

Web links

Commons : Trapani-Birgi Airport  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c assaeroporti Associazione Italiana Gestori Aeroporti
  2. ↑ Development plan of the municipality of Trapani from February 12, 2010, map: E3A.ter ( accessed online on December 12, 2012).
  3. ↑ http://www.dailyblog.it/libia-la-russa-accordo-con-enac-domani-riapre-aeroporto-birgi-apertura-parziale-per-un-massimo-di-18-voli-giornalieri/29 / 03/2011 /
  4. ↑ ItAF stands up new Eurofighter unit, flightglobal.com
  5. ↑ airgest.it: Aeroporto Trapani - sito ufficiale - Aeroporto Trapani-Birgi Vincenzo Florio - Airgest Chi siamo ( Memento of November 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on December 12, 2012.
  6. ↑ Airline Network News and Analysis: Trapani trebles traffic in two years as Ryanair helps Sicily's third airport handle 1.7 million passengers in 2010 , accessed on December 12, 2012.
  7. ^ Associazione Italiana Gestori Aeroporti: Dati di traffico aeroportuale. ( accessed online February 16, 2013).