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Leonardo da Vinci Airport

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Rome Leonardo da Vinci Fiumicino Airport (Italian: Aeroporto Leonardo da Vinci di Fiumicino) , also commonly known as Rome-Fiumicino International Airport, its former name, is Italy's largest airport and second-largest international air gateway, with 32,945,223 passengers served in 2007, located in Fiumicino, 35 km (18.9 nautical miles) from Rome's historic city centre.

It is one of two hubs of the Italian flag carrier Alitalia along with Milan-Malpensa International Airport. In April, 2008 Rome Fiumicino will be the sole hub for Alitalia.

History

The airport officially opened on January 15 1961 with two runways, replacing the small Rome Ciampino Airport which remained in service for domestic and charter operations. During the decade Alitalia invested heavily on 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), used as a backup of 16L/34R, and 07/25, used only westwards due to the dominant winds.

Since 2005 the airport operates 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 area 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 (950,000 passengers per year). Extended work to build new pier C.

The next commitments will be the following:

- refurbishment of runway 1 to allow large aircraft takeoff and landing, such as Airbus A380 (opening April 2008);

- a second office tower to house airlines and staff (opening September 2008);

- completion of environment-friendly cogeneration system allowing the airport to self-produce energy (end 2008);

- finalization 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.

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.

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.

Ground transportation

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 train stations. You may have to change at Trastevere, Ostiense (Metro Piramide) or Tuscolana.

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.

Airlines and terminals

Terminal A

  • Air Alps (Ancona, Bolzano, Parma, Rimini)
  • Air One (Albenga, Alghero, Bari, Brindisi, Cagliari, Catania, Crotone, Genoa, Lamezia Terme, Lampedusa, Milan-Linate, Palermo, Pantelleria, Pisa, Trapani, Trieste, Turin, Venice)
  • Alitalia (Ancona, Bari, Bergamo, Bologna, Brindisi, Catania, Florence, Genoa, Lamezia Terme, Milan-Linate, Naples, Palermo, Parma(start 28th March), Pisa, Reggio Calabria, Trieste, Turin, Venice, Verona)
  • Meridiana (Cagliari, Milan-Linate, Olbia, Verona)

Terminal AA

Terminal B

Terminal C

References

External links



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Last updated on Monday March 10, 2008 at 05:50:38 PDT (GMT -0700)
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