Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport (Italian: Aeroporto Leonardo da Vinci di Fiumicino) (IATA: FCO, ICAO: LIRF), also commonly known as Fiumicino Airport, is Italy's largest airport and the first international air gateway[citation needed] of the country, with 35,226,351 passengers served in 2008, located in Fiumicino, 35 km from Rome's historic city centre. It was the world's 25th busiest airport by passenger traffic in 2008, and the sole hub for Alitalia. The airport is named after Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci, who first designed a proto helicopter and a flying machine with wings. [edit] History The airport was officially opened on January 15, 1961 with two runways, replacing the small Rome Ciampino Airport which remains in service for domestic and charter operations. During the decade Alitalia invested heavily in the new airport, building hangars and maintenance centers; in the same period a third runway was added (16L/34R). Four runways presently operate at Leonardo da Vinci airport: 16L/34R and 16R/34L (separated by a distance of 4,000 metres), 16C/34C (close to 16L/34R), mostly used as a taxiway or as a backup of 16L/34R, and 07/25, used only westwards for takeoffs due to dominant winds. Since 2005 the airport operates a category III B instrument landing system (ILS). Further improvement work was implemented in 2007 to enable the airport to handle 30 takeoffs/landings, up from 10, in the event of thick fog. The terminal areas were upgraded during the 1990s: - 1991: Opening of the domestic pier with 12 loading bridges (Pier A);
- 1995: Opening of the international pier with 10 loading bridges (Pier B);
- 1999: Opening of the west satellite with 11 loading bridges (satellite C) and sky-bridge train connecting it with the main terminal;
- 2000: Opening of the new domestic terminal (terminal A). Reorganization of terminal buildings, now comprising of: terminal A (and pier A), terminal AA, terminal B (and pier B), terminal C (and west satellite);
- 2004: Opening of new cargo terminal called Cargo City;
- 2008: Opening of terminal 5 for check-in of American carrier flights (passengers are then bussed to the Main terminal building); serves 950,000 passengers per year. Extended work to build new pier C.
The next commitments will be the following: - completion of environment-friendly cogeneration system allowing the airport to self-produce energy (end 2008);
- finalisation of a second Baggage Handling System (BHS) by 2009;
- the new pier C (dedicated to international flights) with 16 additional loading bridges, to be completed by 2010 to enable handling the expected growth from present-day 38 million passengers per year to 55 million by 2018.
[edit] Terminals, airlines and destinations | Airlines | Destinations | Terminal | | Aegean Airlines | Athens, Chania [seasonal], Heraklion [seasonal], Rhodes | 3 | | Aer Lingus | Belfast-International [seasonal], Cork, Dublin | 3 | | Aeroflot | Moscow-Sheremetyevo | 3 | | Aerolíneas Argentinas | Buenos Aires-Ezeiza | 3 | | Afriqiyah Airways | Tripoli | 3 | | Air Algérie | Algiers | 3 | | Air Alps | Bolzano, Parma, Rimini [seasonal] | 1 | | Air Berlin | Berlin-Tegel, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Nuremberg | 3 | | Air Canada | Montréal-Trudeau [seasonal], Toronto-Pearson [seasonal] | 3 | | Air China | Beijing-Capital | 3 | | Air Europa | Madrid | 3 | | Air France | Paris-Charles de Gaulle | 1 | | Air France operated by Airlinair | Marseille | 1 | | Air France operated by Brit Air | Lyon | 1 | | Air France operated by CCM Airlines | Marseille | 1 | | Air France operated by Régional | Bordeaux, Toulouse | 1 | | Air Italy | Verona | 1 | | Air Italy | Asmara, Dabaa City, Fortaleza, Havana, Hurghada, Maceio, Mombasa, Natal, Nosy Be, Sharm el-Sheikh, Zanzibar | 3 | | Air Malta | Malta, Reggio Calabria | 3 | | Air Moldova | Chisinau | 3 | | Air One | Alghero, Milan-Malpensa, Pantelleria | 1 | | Air Seychelles | Mahé | 3 | | Air Transat | Montréal-Trudeau [seasonal], Toronto-Pearson [seasonal], Vancouver [seasonal] | 3 | | AirBaltic | Riga, Vilnius[begins 11 January] | 3 | | Albanian Airlines | Tirana | 3 | | Alitalia | Amsterdam, Ancona, Athens, Barcelona, Bari, Bologna, Brindisi, Brussels, Cagliari, Catania, Florence, Frankfurt, Geneva, Lamezia Terme, Madrid, Malta, Milan-Linate, Milan-Orio al Serio, Munich, Naples, Nice, Palermo, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Pisa, Reggio Calabria, Turin, Valencia, Venice-Marco Polo, Warsaw | 1 | | Alitalia | Accra, Algiers, Beirut, Belgrade, Boston, Bucharest-Otopeni, Buenos Aires-Ezeiza, Caracas, Cairo, Casablanca, Chicago-O'Hare, Damascus, Istanbul-Atatürk, Kiev-Boryspil, Lagos, London-Heathrow, Miami, Moscow-Sheremetyevo, New York-JFK, Newark, Osaka-Kansai, São Paulo-Guarulhos, Sofia, St Petersburg, Tehran-Imam Khomeini, Tel Aviv, Tirana, Tokyo-Narita, Toronto-Pearson, Tripoli, Tunis | 3 | | Alitalia operated by Air One | Bari, Bologna, Brindisi, Budapest, Frankfurt, Genoa, Lamezia Terme, Munich, Naples, Nice, Palermo, Thessaloniki, Trieste, Turin, Verona | 1 | | American Airlines | Chicago-O'Hare [seasonal], New York-JFK | 5 | | Armavia | Yerevan | 3 | | Austrian Airlines | Vienna | 3 | | Baboo | Geneva | 3 | | Belavia | Minsk | 3 | | Belle Air | Pristina, Tirana | 3 | | Biman Bangladesh Airlines | Dhaka | 3 | | Blue Air | Bacau, Bucharest-Baneasa, Cluj-Napoca, Sibiu | 3 | | Blue Panorama Airlines | Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Cancun, Cayo Largo, Havana, Hurghada, Kos, La Romana, Luxor, Malé, Marsa Alam, Mykonos, Montego-Bay [begins 21 December], Palma de Mallorca, Marsa Matrouh, Phuket, Roatan, Santiago de Cuba, Santorini, Sharm el-Sheikh, Zanzibar | 3 | | Blue1 | Helsinki | 3 | | Blu-express | Brindisi, Catania, Genoa, Ibiza, Lampedusa, Mykonos, Nice, Palermo, Pantelleria, Turin | 2 | | British Airways | London-Gatwick, London-Heathrow | 3 | | Brussels Airlines | Brussels | 3 | | Bulgaria Air | Sofia | 3 | | Carpatair | Timisoara | 3 | | Cathay Pacific | Hong Kong | 3 | | China Airlines | Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi [ends 1 December ], Delhi [begins 2 December], Taipei-Taoyuan | 3 | | Cimber Sterling | Billund, Copenhagen | 3 | | Continental Airlines | Newark | 5 | | Croatia Airlines | Dubrovnik, Split, Zagreb | 3 | | Cyprus Airways | Larnaca, Milan-Malpensa | 3 | | Czech Airlines | Prague | 3 | | Delta Air Lines | Atlanta, New York-JFK | 5 | | EasyJet | Amsterdam , Athens, Bari, Basel/Mulhouse, Dusseldorf [begins 1 February], Geneva, Lamezia Terme, Lisbon, London-Gatwick, Madrid, Milan-Malpensa, Palermo, Venice-Marco Polo | 3 | | EgyptAir | Cairo, Luxor, Sharm el-Sheikh | 3 | | El Al | Tel Aviv | 5 | | Emirates Airline | Dubai | 3 | | Eritrean Airlines | Asmara | 3 | | Ethiopian Airlines | Addis Ababa | 3 | | Finnair | Helsinki | 3 | | Germanwings | Cologne/Bonn, Stuttgart | 3 | | Iberia | Madrid | 3 | | Iran Air | Tehran-Imam Khomeini | 3 | | Japan Airlines | Tokyo-Narita | 3 | | Jat Airways | Belgrade | 3 | | Jet2.com | Leeds/Bradford, Manchester | 3 | | KLM | Amsterdam | 1 | | Korean Air | Seoul-Incheon | 3 | | Kuwait Airways | Kuwait, Paris-Charles de Gaulle | 3 | | Libyan Airlines | Benghazi, Tripoli | 3 | | Livingston Energy Flight | Cancún, Faro, Fortaleza, Fuerteventura, Havana, Ibiza, La Romana, Lourdes, Maceio, Malé, Marsa Matrouh, Mombasa, Salvador da Bahia, Santorini, Tenerife-South | 3 | | LOT Polish Airlines | Kraków, Warsaw | 3 | | Lufthansa | Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Milan-Malpensa, Munich | 3 | | Luxair | Luxembourg | 3 | | Malaysia Airlines | Kuala Lumpur | 3 | | Malév Hungarian Airlines | Budapest | 3 | | Meridiana | Cagliari, Olbia, Turin, Verona | 1 | | Meridiana operated by Eurofly | Dakar, Malé, Mauritius, Mombasa, Sharm el-Sheikh, Tel Aviv, Zanzibar | 3 | | Middle East Airlines | Beirut | 3 | | Montenegro Airlines | Podgorica, Tivat | 3 | | Neos | Cancun, Chania, Kos, La Romana, Marsa Matrouh, Malé, Mombasa, Porto Santo, Ras-al-Khaimah, Sal, Tel Aviv, Zanzibar | 3 | | Niki | Vienna | 3 | | Northwest Airlines | Detroit [seasonal] | 5 | | Norwegian Air Shuttle | Copenhagen, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda, Warsaw | 3 | | Olympic Air | Athens | 3 | | Qatar Airways | Doha | 3 | | Rossiya | St Petersburg | 3 | | Royal Air Maroc | Casablanca | 3 | | Royal Jordanian | Amman | 3 | | Saudi Arabian Airlines | Jeddah, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Riyadh | 3 | | SAS | Copenhagen, Oslo-Gardermoen, Stockholm-Arlanda [seasonal] | 3 | | Singapore Airlines | Singapore | 3 | | Smart Wings | Prague | 3 | | SriLankan Airlines | Colombo | 3 | | Swiss International Air Lines | Zürich | 3 | | Syrian Air | Aleppo, Damascus | 3 | | TACV | Sal | 3 | | TAP Portugal | Lisbon | 3 | | TAP operated by Portugalia | Porto | 3 | | TAROM | Bucharest-Otopeni | 3 | | Thai Airways International | Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi | 3 | | Transavia.com | Copenhagen, Rotterdam | 3 | [edit] Ground handling Ground handling services have been provided by Aeroporti di Roma up to 1999 when it created Aeroporti di Roma Handling (to serve all airlines apart from Alitalia, which continued being handled by Aeroporti di Roma itself). Alitalia provided passenger assistance even before 1999. In 2001 Alitalia created Alitalia Airport and started providing self-handling and third party handling. Air One created EAS and started providing third-party services too. Aeroporti di Roma Handling remains the biggest handler in terms of airlines handled but Alitalia Airport is the biggest handler in terms of airplanes handled as Alitalia aircraft account for 50% of the ones in Fiumicino. There are some private handlers that provide passenger assistance alone: ARE Group, Globeground Italia and ICTS Italia. On 2 May 2006 Meridiana's passenger handling staff transferred to Alitalia Airport and the ramp transferred to Alitalia Airport in February 2007 (from Aeroporti di Roma Handling). The ground handling deregulation has brought confusion on who does what and has decreased service levels especially on transferring baggage. In May 2006 Italy's Civil Aviation Authority announced that it took off the limitation of 3 ramp handlers in Rome Leonardo da Vinci airport. ARE Group and Aviapartner announced that they would create a company called Aviapartner (51% Aviapartner; 49% ARE Group) to serve Milan Malpensa and Rome Leonardo da Vinci. There are fears that luggage mishandling will go up. In November 2006 Aeroporti di Roma Handling was sold to Flightcare (itself owned by Spanish company FCC), an Aviance member. [edit] Security services Security Services transferred from the Polizia di Stato to Aeroporti di Roma in 2000. Aeroporti di Roma created Airport Security (100%-owned) to provide these services as well as security services to airlines (in competition with other security companies such as IVRI). Airport Security is supervised by Polizia di Stato (Italian State Police), Guardia di Finanza (Italian Customs Police), Ente Nazionale Aviazione Civile (Italy's Civil Aviation Authority) and Aeroporti di Roma. [edit] Ground transportation  Fiumicino Airport railway station Leonardo da Vinci is about 35 kilometres (22 miles) by car from Rome's historic city centre. The airport is well served by the 6-lane motorway A91 Roma-Fiumicino and numerous buses and taxis. The airport is served by the Leonardo Express train operated by Trenitalia, available at the airport terminal. The trip takes 30 minutes (no stops) to Termini Station in Rome - there are two such connections per hour. Alternatively, local trains leave once every 15 minutes, stopping at all stations. Passengers may have to change at Trastevere, Ostiense (Metro Piramide) or Tuscolana.[3] [edit] Incidents and accidents From the 1960s until the 1980s, the airport experienced significant aircraft hijackings as well as became the scene of two major terrorist attacks and the port of origin for an aircraft bombing in flight—all engendered by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. - On 29 January 1974 Meld Meir, Mossad director was nearly assassinated by the Black September Organisation but was foiled at the last minute when the Mossad agents foiled the attempt.
- 7 September 2005 - Ryanair is under investigation by ANSV, the Italian air accident investigation agency, for an attempted bad weather approach. During an unstabilised approach, the non-flying co-pilot had to intervene to initiate a late go-around, then the crew decided to divert to Pescara. [4]
[edit] References [edit] External links
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