Bolzano Airport (Italian: Aeroporto di Bolzano — Dolomiti, German: Flughafen Bozen — Dolomiten) (IATA: BZO, ICAO: LIPB) is a regional airport near Bolzano in the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy.

History

The airport was established in October 1926 with a 1,300-metre (4,300 ft) landing runway.[2]

In June 2016, a public opinion poll decided to no longer support the highly deficient airport with money from the government. Therefore, it was decided that the airport's operator company would be liquidated and the licence given back to the Italian authorities, which means the airport would be shut down entirely if no other operator were found.

South Tyrol spent over €120 million in recent years for the airport without attracting any lasting scheduled traffic.[3] Darwin Airline ceased their PSO-flights to Rome on behalf of Alitalia on 18 June 2015 leaving Bolzano Airport again without any scheduled commercial traffic.[4]

In 2019, the South Tyrol government sold the airport to ABD Holding, a private company of entrepreneurs Josef Gostner, René Benko and Hans Peter Haselsteiner, for a price of 3.8 million euros.[5] The airport extended its runway to 1,462 m (4,797 ft) in late 2021.[6]

Airlines and destinations

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Bolzano Airport:

AirlinesDestinations
SkyAlps Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg
Seasonal: Antwerp,[7] Billund,[7] Brač, Brindisi, Cagliari, Catania, Corfu (begins 7 June 2024),[8] Copenhagen,[7] Dubrovnik, Ibiza, Kassel, Lamezia Terme, London–Gatwick,[9] Olbia, Stuttgart[10]

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at BZO airport. See Wikidata query.

Accidents and incidents

  • In March 2021, a helicopter owned by the Guardia di Finanza, crash landed at the airport. The helicopter was quite new.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Traffic Data 2022" (PDF).
  2. ^ "ITALIAN BOLZANO ( ALTO ADIGE)". 6612springbottomway.blogspot.com.
  3. ^ aerotelegraph.com - "South Tyroleans do not want to support Bolzano Airport anymore" 14 June 2016
  4. ^ "Etihad Regional stellt Bozen-Rom ein - Austrian Aviation Net". Archived from the original on 2015-01-15. Retrieved 2015-01-14.
  5. ^ "Beim Flughafen haben jetzt die privaten Investoren das Sagen - TGR Tagesschau". TGR. 16 September 2019. Retrieved 2022-02-06.
  6. ^ "Italy's Sky Alps Resumes Operations With Regional Routes". Routes. Retrieved 2022-02-07.
  7. ^ a b c "SkyAlps riconferma Anversa, Billund e Copenaghen per i voli per le vacanze bianche". 12 July 2023.
  8. ^ "Korfu/Griechenland".
  9. ^ "SkyAlps atterrera' a Londra Gatwick da meta' aprile". 6 February 2024.
  10. ^ "Sky Alps Adds Bolzano – Stuttgart from late-May 2024".
  11. ^ "Elicottero della Finanza si rovescia in fase di decollo - TGR Bolzano". 27 March 2021.

External links

Media related to Bolzano Airport at Wikimedia Commons