Florence Airport, Peretola Aeroporto di Firenze-Peretola | |||||||||||||
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| Airport type | Public | ||||||||||||
| Owner/Operator | Toscana Aeroporti | ||||||||||||
| Serves | Florence, Italy | ||||||||||||
| Location | Peretola | ||||||||||||
| Opened | 4 June 1931; 94 years ago (1931-06-04)[1] | ||||||||||||
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| Elevation AMSL | 141 ft / 43 m | ||||||||||||
| Coordinates | 43°48′36″N11°12′14″E / 43.81000°N 11.20389°E /43.81000; 11.20389 | ||||||||||||
| Website | aeroporto.firenze.it | ||||||||||||
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| Statistics from Assaeroporti[3] | |||||||||||||
Florence Airport, Peretola (IATA:FLR,ICAO:LIRQ), inItalianAeroporto di Firenze-Peretola, formallyAmerigo Vespucci Airport, is theinternational airport ofFlorence, the capital of theItalian region ofTuscany. It is the second-busiest Tuscan airport in terms of passengers afterPisa International Airport.
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The first air field in Florence was created in theCampo di Marte area in 1910, when military authorities allowed a field to be used for "experiments in air navigation". Campo di Marte thus became Florence's first airport, and remained so throughout the 1920s. However, the field was soon surrounded by houses and was inadequate for the new aircraft that were then replacing the first canvas-covered craft. In 1928, a location on the plain between Florence andSesto Fiorentino was chosen. Peretola Airport opened there on 4 June 1931.[1]
At first, Peretola was a large field where airplanes took off and landed with no formal direction, but eventually, the Ministry of Aeronautics decided to enlarge and upgrade it. The airport was extended towardCastello, and in 1938–39, an asphaltrunway 60 metres (200 ft) wide and 1,000 metres (3,300 ft) long, facing northeast, was built.
DuringWorld War II, Peretola was used both by theRoyal Italian Air Force and theLuftwaffe and from 1944 by Allied air forces. Then later in the 1940s it welcomed its first passenger flights, operated by Aerea Teseo withDouglas DC-3 aircraft.[4] In 1948, Aerea Teseo went out of business. In the late '50s and early '60s,Alitalia, also using the DC-3, offered two routes:Rome–Florence–Venice and Rome–Florence–Milan. ATI then offered several domestic flights with theFokker F27.
In the early 1980s, plans were made to upgrade the airport's facilities. In 1984, Saf (now AdF, the company that manages the airport) was founded, and restructuring work was completed: lengthening (to 1,400 m (4,600 ft)) and lighting the runway, installing aVOR/DME navigation system, and rebuilding the airport terminal. In September 1986, regular flights resumed. Since then, the number of airplanes and passengers has steadily increased.
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In 1990, the airport was renamed after Florence nativeAmerigo Vespucci, an Italian merchant andcartographer.
In 1992, the building now dedicated to arrivals, constructed by AdF, was inaugurated. Two years later, a departures building opened, and the City of Florence opened a car park at the entrance to the airport. In 1996, the runway was extended by 250 m (820 ft), and AdF funded further enlargement of the departure area. The new area has 15 check-in desks and is 1,200 square metres (13,000 sq ft) in area, 770 m2 (8,300 sq ft) of which are for public use.
Since 9 April 1998, AdF has had a global concession to managing the airport's infrastructure, and it has assumed responsibility for maintenance and development. In late 1999, a renovation and expansion of the terminals, aircraft parking areas, and other facilities began.
In July 2000, AdF made its debut on the stock market, and in 2001, the airport was among the first in Europe to obtain UNI EN ISO 9001/2000 certification for the quality of its services.[citation needed]
On 5 December 2012,Vueling announced the opening of a base of operations in Florence, with flights to several destinations in Europe.
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Florence Airport has a single runway, and the maintaxiway is situated at the end of Runway 5, with an overshoot/holding area at the end of Runway 23. As is common at smaller airports, after landing, planes turn around at the end of the runway, then taxi back down to reach the parking area and terminal. Because of the close proximity ofMonte Morello, planes normally take off from Runway 23, thus forcing aircraft to taxi down the runway again to depart.[citation needed]
ThePolizia di Stato stationspolice helicopters at the airport.
The terminal buildings are quite small. The larger brown building contains the checkin, security, duty free and arrivals, as well at gate number 1. There is a second older building connected by an airbridge, which contains gates 2-11, as well as a food court. The current airport does not have anyjetbridges so bus boarding is used from all gates, however, a new state of the art terminal is expected in the next decade, containing 7 newjetbridges. The short runway is due to be decomissioned and reduced to a taxiway because a new runway is set to be build perpendicular to the current one (parallel to the A11 highway). The new runway will be longer than the current one, which only can accept aircraft up to the size of the A320NEO
The following airlines offers scheduled services from and to Florence Airport:[5][6]
The second line of theFlorence light-rail network has a terminal at the airport.[37] The airport is also connected with the city of Florence by a bus line that runs to and from thecentral railway station every half-hour, operated byAutolinee Toscane. Taxis are available to central Florence.[38]
Media related toPeretola Airport at Wikimedia Commons
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