Trapani-Birgi Airport

Vincenzo Florio Airport Trapani-Birgi Airport Birgi Airport
IATA: TPS – ICAO: LICT TPS Location of the airport in Sicily
Summary
Airport type		Military/Public
Location		Trapani
Elevation AMSL		25 ft / 8 m
Coordinates		37°54′43″N 012°29′36″E
Runways
Direction	Length		Surface
	m	ft
13R/31L	2,695.5	8,844	Bitumen
Source: Italian AIP at EUROCONTROL

Vincenzo Florio Airport (IATA: TPS, ICAO: LICT), also known as Trapani-Birgi Airport and Birgi Airport, is an airport serving Trapani, Italy. Located between Trapani and Marsala It is one of the five civil airports in Sicily, but is also used for military purposes. The airport is a base for the 37st Wing and is also used as one of the four forward operating bases (FOBs) used by the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control stationed out of NATO Air Base Geilenkirchen in Geilenkirchen, Germany. The civil airport is named after Sicilian wine industrialist and automobile enthusiast Vincenzo Florio, while the military airfield is intitoled to the Italian aviator Livio Bassi.

The airport is located 8 NM (15 km; 9.2 mi) south of Trapani, and opened in the early 1960s. After a long period of inactivity the airport was relaunched by the Province of Trapani in 2003, and now hosts several flights, mainly low-cost connections.

In 2010, 1,682,991 passengers passed through the airport, making it the third busiest airport in Sicily.

History

Inaugurated in the 1960s as a small regional airport operating very few flights, Trapani-Birgi became even less important in the 1990s, during which only a flight to Pantelleria was operated. The airport was relaunched in 2003 by the Province of Trapani and grew up in size after Ryanair started to use it as its main hub to Sicily, bringing several new international flights to and from Trapani. The airport has consequently been recognised as instrumental for the tourism-related economy of Western Sicily.

The airport gained international attention during Operation Odyssey Dawn in 2011 when NATO aircraft were based there during military intervention in the Libyan civil war.

Airlines and destinations

Airlines	Destinations
Air One	Milan-Malpensa
Meridiana Fly	Pantelleria
Ryanair	Ancona, Bari, Beauvais, Bergamo, Billund, Bologna, Bratislava, Cagliari, Brussels-Charleroi, Cuneo, Dublin, Eindhoven, Genoa, Gothenburg-City, Girona, Hahn, Ibiza, Karlsruhe/Baden, Krakow, London-Luton, Maastricht, Madrid, Malta, Memmingen, Parma, Perugia, Pescara, Pisa, Rhodes, Rome-Ciampino, Sandefjord, Stockholm-Skavsta, Tampere, Trieste, Turin, Valencia, Venice-Treviso, Verona, Weeze

After the restyling of the 2008

Transport

By bus from Palermo: a coach service is offered by Terravision between Trapani Birgi Airport and Palermo city centre.

By bus from Trapani: The Terravision bus also stops in the centre of Trapani.

Statistics

This table does not include passengers in transit.

Year	National passengers	International passengers	Total passengers	Var % prev. year
2010			1.682.991	57,36
2009	757.555	301.308	1,069,528	100.5
2008	342.025	186.774	533,310	5.2
2007	432.943	72.946	507,185	62.3
2006	305.895	4.802	312,459	19.8
2005	385.612	2.194	389,735	5.2
2004	382.867	19.071	410,898	66.7
2003	224.663	2.281	246,474	393.6
2002	39.175	3.494	49,932	20.0
2001	44.702	5.732	62,430	82.3
2000	n.d.	n.d.	34,321

Data from Assaeroporti.

See also

• Catania Fontanarossa Airport Vincenzo Bellini - Sicily's major international airport.
• Palermo Airport Falcone e Borsellino - also known as Punta Raisi Airport, another of Sicily's international airports
• Comiso Airport V. Magliocco - currently under construction, it will be another of Sicily's international airports
• Trapani-Milo Airport Luigi Broglio - first airport of Trapani, today used by the Italian Space Agency.
• Trapani-Chinisia Airport Livio Bassi - second airport of Trapani, open between 1949 and 1971.

External links

• (English) Trapani Airport - official website
• Route map and statistical information for TPS
• Accident history for TPS at Aviation Safety Network
• Current weather for LICT at NOAA/NWS