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Alghero–Fertilia Airport

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Alghero - Riviera del Corallo Airport (Italian: Aeroporto di Alghero - Riviera del Corallo; Catalan: L'Aeroport de l'Alguer-Fertília)[1] (IATA: AHO, ICAO: LIEA) is an international airport situated 4.3 NM (8.0 km; 4.9 mi) north-northwest of the city of Alghero, in northern Sardinia, Italy. It is also known as Alghero–Fertilia Airport, named for the nearby village of Fertilia or Alghero Airport. It is one of the three main airports serving Sardinia, the other ones being Olbia in the northeast, and near Cagliari in the south. The airport is operated by SO.GE.A.AL (Societa di Gestione Aeroporto di Alghero).

Alghero-Fertilia Airport

Aeroporto di Alghero-Fertilia
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorSogeaal S.p.a.
ServesAlghero
LocationFertilia, Italy
Elevation AMSL87 ft / 27 m
Coordinates40°37′52″N 08°17′19″E / 40.63111°N 8.28861°E / 40.63111; 8.28861
Websiteaeroportodialghero.it
Map
AHO is located in Sardinia
AHO
AHO
Location of the airport in Sardinia
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
02/20 3,000 9,843 Asphalt
Statistics (2022)
Passengers1,533,427
Passenger change 21–22Increase 68.8%
Aircraft movements12,592
Movements change 21–22Increase 45.0%
Sources:Assaeroporti

History

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Early years

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The airport opened in March 1938 as a military airport. During World War II, it was equipped with a 700-metre (2,300 ft) runway. Following the war, the runway was lengthened and improved.

During the early 1960s, the civil activities moved on the east side of the property and an old hangar was used as a passenger terminal. In 1971, the first passenger terminal was built. In the middle of the 1970s, the runway was lengthened to the current 3,000 m (9,800 ft), one of the longest runways in Italy and one of the safest.

In 1980, Alitalia established a flight school at Alghero Airport which trained up to 100 pilots a year, in conjunction with a diversification of activities including air taxi and maintenance services. The school closed in March 2003.[2]

Development in the 2000s

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At the end of February 2006, there was a disagreement between the municipalities of Sassari and Alghero concerning the name of the airport (by then called "Alghero-Riviera del Corallo" or "Alghero-Fertilia airport".[3] It was suggested by Sassari administration (capital of province near Alghero) that the name should be changed to "Sassari-Alghero"[citation needed], which was the name used by Alitalia to advertise the first flights to the airport, but actually Alitalia used "Alghero-Sassari".[citation needed]. The discussions came to nothing and the name recognized by Italian (ENAV) and the international aviation authorities, besides the majority of people remains "Alghero-Fertilia", although the intention of the airport management company is to change the name to "Alghero-Riviera del Corallo".

On 23 November 2007, management of the airport was transferred to SO.GE.A.AL. for a period of 40 years.

The terminal building was recently renovated and expanded with the construction of a new terminal, which allowed the airport to expand the services offered to travelers. A renovation of the old terminal is planned to transform it into a shopping mall. On 9 April 2008, the new departures and arrivals halls were inaugurated in the presence of civil authorities, the military and the Bishop of the Diocese of Alghero-Bosa Giacomo Lanzetti. This expanded the terminal area from 8,000 m2 (86,000 sq ft) to approximately 14,000 m2 (150,000 sq ft).

30 March 2009, Alghero Airport became a Ryanair airline hub, with two aircraft with their crews based there. The airport's relationship with the Irish company has not always been smooth. For example, in August 2009, Ryanair announced it would discontinue the routes between Frankfurt Hahn and Madrid from October of the same year in addition to withdrawing various seasonal flights. The matter was eventually resolved and the routes were not cancelled. In January 2010, Ryanair asked for further subsidies from the local authorities. When this was refused, Ryanair announced it would cut seven routes to and from the airport. The local government signed agreements with Meridiana Fly and Alitalia to take over some routes, ending Ryanair's near monopoly on international flights from the airport. However, the new routes were quickly cancelled due to poor load-factors. Ryanair has resumed some of the cancelled routes (although flights to Hahn and Charleroi ended in October 2013) and remains the dominant carrier at the airport.

Since 27 October 2013, with the entry into force of the new Territorial Continuity Sardinien, the airline Livingston connected the Alghero airport with the Rome-Fiumicino Airport; this route was operated in the past by Alitalia. The company, following a conference held at Alghero airport in early November, announced that the Riviera del Corallo became its fifth base of operations, after Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino, Rimini and Verona. But on 29 April 2014, the Autonomous Region of Sardinia decided to revoke the route Alghero - Rome - Fiumicino to New Livingston for "serious breaches", entrusting it again to Alitalia, runner in the contract notice for the Territorial Continuity of Sardinia. Therefore, as of 4 May 2014, with the flight Rome - Fiumicino - Alghero of 21:25, Alitalia resumed the route in territorial continuity. On 29 April 2014, Livingston, submitting an appeal to the TAR of Lazio, obtained a suspension of the provision of the Autonomous Region of Sardinia. On 15 May 2014, the TAR of Lazio declined jurisdiction in the matter and sent the case to the Administrative Court of Sardinia that on 29 May the same year, confirming the decline of New Livingston from territorial continuity service on Alghero - Rome - Fiumicino. The Council of State rejected the appeal of the Milan-based company, allowing Alitalia to operate the route again. Subsequently, on 7 October 2014, Livingston communicated ENAC (the Italian National Agency for Civil Aviation), the suspension of all flights, because of the collapse of tourism, especially the segment holiday to Egypt and the Mediterranean basin, which has collapsed after the Arab Spring and the consequent instability of the area, and the drastic reduction in demand for routes to Russia because of the ongoing political crisis. As a result, the ENAC took steps to suspend the air transport license of the airline.

In October 2015, Ryanair announced that it would be closing its base at Alghero and dropping 16 routes from October that year, leaving only five routes served by aircraft based elsewhere for the winter 2015–2016 season.[4]

In July 2016, Ryanair announced it would re-establish its base in Alghero and resume many routes after the decision of Italian government to rescind the increase in airport taxes from October 2016.[5]

As of November 2017, Alitalia and the Romanian low-cost company Blue Air have bases here, with a handful of several other low-cost companies, such as easyJet, Ryanair, Vueling and Wizz Air, also offering all-year-round flights to various destinations in Italy, Spain and Romania, but also seasonal flights to other European countries.

Airlines and destinations

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The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Alghero–Fertilia Airport:[6]

AirlinesDestinations
AeroItalia Seasonal: Rome–Fiumicino, Verona
Air Europa Seasonal: Madrid
Air Mountain Seasonal: Sion
ITA Airways Rome–Fiumicino
Ryanair[7] Bergamo, Bologna, Milan–Malpensa, Naples, Pisa
Seasonal: Barcelona, Bari, Billund, Bratislava, Budapest, Catania, Charleroi, Cork, Dublin, Hahn,[8] Katowice, London–Stansted, Madrid, Memmingen, Palermo, Pescara, Venice
Volotea Seasonal: Turin, Verona
Wizz Air Bucharest–Otopeni
Seasonal: Budapest

Statistics

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New departures terminal
 
Terminal interior
 
Control Tower
 
Aerial view
Annual passenger traffic at AHO airport. See Wikidata query.
Passengers
  1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007
January 28,738 29,449 31,433 33,692 34,904 49,177 53,815 58,278 59,267 65,004
February 26,132 26,598 27,085 32,449 41,075 44,009 58,445 53,584 56,554 61,181
March 29,967 32,550 32,236 37,356 52,769 52,523 48,259[pax 1] 73,473 23,333[pax 2] 77,908
April 37,662 41,091 44,765 50,091 58,651 67,145 78,359 82,056 90,139 102,306
May 48,766 49,303 52,978 60,238 63,625 78,794 88,229 101,077 103,823 110,481
June 61,423 68,338 77,007 83,951 83,247 95,844 106,029 118,931 116,913 138,458
July 70,551 78,742 92,203 89,927 99,705 103,867 119,840 130,685 135,958 155,429
August 92,116 90,193 99,864 96,491 105,676 109,066 118,539 130,462 131,334 160,511
September 63,262 67,502 81,682 80,074 88,659 91,652 109,963 112,434 115,117 144,724
October 39,425 41,892 49,498 47,998 72,599 70,448 89,609 86,327 94,232 116,976
November 29,133 29,724 35,814 33,498 50,449 59,697 60,744 63,621 68,029 80,318
December 35,313 33,793 39,765 36,067 55,438 66,147 66,982 69,046 75,792 86,819
TOTAL 562,488 589,175 664,330 681,832 806,797 888,369 998,811 1,079,843 1,070,494 1,300,115
Source: Assaeroporti and the airport operating company.[citation needed]
  1. ^ The airport was closed for major works from 14 to 23 March 2004.
  2. ^ The airport was closed for major works from 18 to 24 March 2006.
  2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Δ%
January 75,982 65,711 72,705 77,596 75,971 70,095  7.7
February 74,374 65,869 66,656 71,541 60,446 63,142  4.5
March 94,633 77,388 84,954 93,557 87,740 85,233  2.9
April 106,558 124,493 96,361 122,610 129,832 129,492  0.3
May 130,918 132,683 117,563 132,852 135,698 143,175  5.5
June 143,355 167,749 139,665 158,626 165,120 178,768  8.3
July 168,082 200,181 176,922 191,089 199,599 215,224  7.8
August 181,585 208,485 193,025 202,272 210,407 224,562  6.9
September 143,439 172,797 150,076 160,327 168,251 176,386  4.8
October 114,057 129,685 123,883 133,509 125,498 –
November 70,327 76,806 80,696 81,809 75,154 –
December 77,551 85,169 85,711 88,466 85,445 –
TOTAL 1,380,762 1,507,016 1,388,217 1,514,254 1,518,870 1,286,077 [9]  4.3
Source: Assaeroporti and the airport operating company.[citation needed]
Cargo (in tonnes)
  2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Δ%
January 133 165 178 78 95 52 46 65 61 129 84 110 116 1  99.3
February 133 168 149 90 74 57 51 52 72 147 99 110 112 1  99.3
March 152 175 106 97 50 60 24 60 54 157 136 126 145 1  99.6
April 126 161 100 95 94 48 51 48 56 146 119 133 120 1  99.2
May 169 199 116 111 82 54 49 64 57 145 127 135 145 1.2  99.2
June 179 199 117 105 102 53 60 64 60 147 129 137 135 6.6  95.1
July 210 193 130 134 207 73 21 68 73 176 139 141 143 6.8  95.3
August 187 178 112 102 138 72 61 71 158 129 111 134 126 7.5  94.0
September 190 175 119 118 107 64 62 83 183 168 138 142 148 –
October 182 182 116 80 48 53 63 65 184 131 126 139 160 –
November 153 166 100 95 88 52 61 63 168 118 131 130 149 –
December 149 150 97 99 115 55 60 71 182 109 108 143 138 –
TOTAL 1,963 2,111 1,440 1,204 1,200 693 609 774 1,308 1,702 1,447 1,580 1,637 25.4[9]  97.6
Source: Assaeroporti[citation needed]

Ground transportation

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The airport can be reached from the city via the Strada Statale 42 and from the rest of the island via the SS 131 Carlo Felice Highway and the SS 291. The Sardinian transport operator ARST operates urban public transport lines between Alghero and the airport and also to Sassari, Olbia and Cagliari. There are also seasonal links by private companies from Cagliari and Santa Teresa Gallura.

References

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  1. ^ Aeroporto di Alghero / Alghero Airport
  2. ^ Chamber of Deputies
  3. ^ Article on algheronotizie.it Archived 29 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ "Ryanair says to cut Italian routes, jobs, blames government passenger tax". Reuters. 2 February 2016. Archived from the original on 5 February 2016. Retrieved 5 February 2016.
  5. ^ "Apertura di Ryanair: "Taglio della tassa ottima notizia"". 21 July 2016.
  6. ^ "Destinations and Schedules". aeroportodialghero.it. 31 October 2023.
  7. ^ "Ryanair NS23 Network Additions Summary – 26MAR23". Aeroroutes.
  8. ^ "Ryanair NS24 Network Additions Summary – 14JUL24".
  9. ^ a b Dati provvisori
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  Media related to Alghero Fertilia airport at Wikimedia Commons

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