Falcone Borsellino Airport (IATA: PMO, ICAO: LICJ) (Italian: Aeroporto Falcone Borsellino) or simply Palermo Airport, formerly Punta Raisi Airport, is an international airport located at Cinisi, 19 NM (35 km; 22 mi) west-northwest[1] of Palermo, the capital city of the Italian island of Sicily. It is the second biggest airport in Sicily in terms of passengers after Catania-Fontanarossa Airport, with 7,118,087 passengers handled in 2022.

Falcone Borsellino Airport

Aeroporto Falcone Borsellino
Summary
Airport typePublic
OperatorGovernment
ServesPalermo, Italy
LocationCinisi, Palermo, Italy
Opened1960
Focus city for
Elevation AMSL65 ft / 20 m
Coordinates38°10′55″N 013°05′58″E / 38.18194°N 13.09944°E / 38.18194; 13.09944
Websitegesap.it
Map
PMO is located in Italy
PMO
PMO
Location in Italy
Map
Runways
Direction Length Surface
m ft
07/25 3,326 10,912 Bitumen
02/20 2,068 6,784 Bitumen
Statistics (2022)
Passengers7,118,057
Passenger change 21–22Increase 55.54%
Movements52,008
Movements change 21–22Increase 20.6%
Cargo (tons)3,077
Cargo change 20–21Increase 21.4%
Source: Italian AIP at EUROCONTROL[1]
Statistics from Assaeroporti[2]

History

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The airport was given the name Falcone Borsellino in memory of the two leading anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino who were murdered by the Sicilian Mafia in 1992. A 1.90-metre-diameter (6.2 ft) plaque featuring their portraits can be found to the right of one of the main outside entrances to the departure hall, set into a mosaic of Sicily. Created by the Sicilian sculptor Tommaso Geraci, it bears the inscription Giovanni Falcone–Paolo Borsellino–Gli Altri–L'orgoglio della Nuova Sicilia (Giovanni Falcone–Paolo Borsellino–The Others–The Pride of the New Sicily).

In 1994, GESAP was charged with the partial management of the airport through a convention which granted the company a 20-year mandate to run land-side activities (the airport buildings and surrounding areas). In April 1999, GESAP obtained an anticipated mandate to manage the airport's air side activities, and, more specifically, the flight infrastructure (runways, links, taxiways and aprons).

In June 2005, Eurofly launched seasonal flights from Palermo to New York City using Airbus A330s.[3][4][5] The company merged with Meridiana in 2010 to create Meridiana Fly, which continued the service.[6] As a result of Meridiana Fly's decision to rebrand as Air Italy, the route ended in October 2017.[7][8] Neos will commence a summer-seasonal route from June 2024 with Boeing 787 Dreamliners, reconnecting Palermo to New York.[9]

Management

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GESAP S.p.a. is the airport management company of the airport. It has a fully paid-up share capital of €15,912,332 divided between the Regional Province of Palermo, the Comune of Palermo, the Chamber of Commerce, the Comune of Cinisi and other minor partners.

Airlines and destinations

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

AirlinesDestinations
Aegean Airlines Seasonal: Athens[10]
AeroItalia Bergamo,[11] Rome–Fiumicino
Air France Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Air Serbia Seasonal: Belgrade[12]
Austrian Airlines Seasonal: Vienna
British Airways Seasonal: London–Heathrow[13]
DAT Lampedusa, Pantelleria
easyJet Amsterdam, Basel/Mulhouse, Milan–Malpensa, Naples, Paris–Charles de Gaulle
Seasonal: Geneva, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Lyon, Nice, Palma de Mallorca (begins 23 June 2025),[14] Paris–Orly, Porto
Egyptair Seasonal charter: Sharm El Sheikh[15]
Eurowings Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart
Iberia Seasonal: Madrid[16]
ITA Airways Milan–Linate, Rome–Fiumicino
LOT Polish Airlines Seasonal charter: Warsaw–Chopin[17]
Lufthansa Frankfurt, Munich
Luxair Seasonal: Luxembourg
Neos Seasonal: New York–JFK[18]
Norwegian Air Shuttle Seasonal: Copenhagen, Stockholm–Arlanda
Ryanair Barcelona, Bari, Beauvais, Bergamo, Berlin, Bologna, Budapest, Cagliari, Charleroi, Cologne/Bonn, Forlì, Genoa, Hahn, Kraków, London–Stansted,[19] Madrid, Marseille, Memmingen, Milan–Malpensa, Naples, Nuremberg, Perugia, Pescara (begins 31 March 2025),[20] Pisa, Poznań,[21] Rome–Fiumicino,[22] Trieste, Turin, Valencia, Venice, Verona, Wrocław, Zagreb (begins 30 March 2025)[23]
Seasonal: Alghero, Brindisi, Bucharest–Otopeni,[24] Cuneo,[24] Dublin,[25] Edinburgh, Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden, Parma,[26] Rimini, Vienna
Scandinavian Airlines Seasonal: Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm–Arlanda
Smartwings Seasonal charter: Katowice, Prague,[27] Warsaw–Chopin[28]
Swiss International Air Lines Zürich[29]
Transavia Seasonal: Rotterdam
Transavia France Paris–Orly
Seasonal: Lyon, Marseille,[30] Nantes
TUI fly Belgium Seasonal: Brussels
Tunisair Tunis
Turkish Airlines Istanbul
United Airlines Seasonal: Newark (begins 22 May 2025)[31]
Universal Air Malta[32]
Volotea Ancona, Florence, Naples, Turin, Verona
Seasonal: Athens, Bilbao (resumes 12 April 2025),[33] Bordeaux,[34] Brest,[35] Lille, Lourdes, Lyon, Nantes, Nice, Olbia, Santorini, Strasbourg, Toulouse, Zakynthos
Seasonal charter: Deauville
Vueling Barcelona
Seasonal: Florence

Statistics

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Apron view
 
Aerial view
Annual passenger traffic at PMO airport. See Wikidata query.

Accidents and incidents

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  • On 5 May 1972, Alitalia Flight 112 flew into Mt. Longa on approach to Palermo Airport. All 115 aboard were killed.
  • On 23 December 1978, Alitalia Flight 4128 crashed into the Tyrrhenian Sea while on approach to Palermo Airport.
  • On 6 August 2005, Tuninter Flight 1153, an ATR 72–500, ran out of fuel while en route and ditched about 29 kilometres (18 mi) from the city of Palermo. 16 of the 39 people on board died.
  • On 24 September 2010, Wind Jet Flight 243, operated by Airbus A319-132 EI-EDM,[36] landed short of the runway after encountering a thunderstorm and windshear on approach. The aircraft was substantially damaged when it impacted the localiser. Both main undercarriage sets collapsed and the aircraft was evacuated by the emergency slides.[37] Around 20 passengers were injured in the evacuation.[36]

Ground transport

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Train

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The airport's railway facility, Punta Raisi railway station, is the northwestern terminus of Palermo metropolitan railway service. It links the airport with Palermo Centrale railway station. A typical timetable on work days is a train every 30 minutes in each direction between early morning and around 10.00 pm.

There are several private bus companies, which stop at the bus station outside the terminal building and connect the airport with nearby Palermo city.[38] There are further connections to/from Palermo, Catania, Messina and rest of Sicily.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b "EAD Basic". Retrieved 23 April 2020.
  2. ^ "Traffic Data 2021" (PDF).
  3. ^ Connelly, Marjorie (15 May 2005). "Advisory: Travel notes; Comings and goings". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  4. ^ McCartney, Scott (10 May 2005). "New bargain airlines offer cheaper fares to Europe". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  5. ^ "Meridiana, Palermo più vicina a New York: raddoppiati i voli". Palermo Today (in Italian). 26 November 2015. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  6. ^ Dunn, Graham (1 March 2010). "Merged life begins for Meridiana and Eurofly". Airline Business. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  7. ^ "L'America si avvicina: da maggio torna il volo Palermo-New York". Palermo Today (in Italian). 22 August 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  8. ^ "Palermo to see TATL flights as United expands to Europe". Ch-aviation. 24 August 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  9. ^ "Neos Schedules Palermo – New York Nonstop Service in NS24". AeroRoutes. Retrieved 28 May 2024.
  10. ^ "Aegean Airlines NS24 International Network Changes – 21JAN24".
  11. ^ "Nord e Sud più vicini: da luglio un nuovo collegamento di Aeroitalia tra Bergamo e Palermo".
  12. ^ "Air Serbia NS24 Systemwide Flight Number Changes".
  13. ^ "British Airways NW24 Heathrow – Europe Frequency Changes – 27OCT24". Aeroroutes. Aeroroutes. Retrieved 31 October 2024.
  14. ^ "EasyJet, dal 23 giugno volo diretto Palermo-Palma di Maiorca due volte a settimana – 19NOV24".
  15. ^ "https://www.palermotoday.it/economia/palermo-sharm-el-sheikh-2024-voli.html". {{cite web}}: External link in |title= (help)
  16. ^ "Iberia Resumes 3 European Routes in 3Q24". AeroRoutes.
  17. ^ "Istanbul, Porto e Copenhagen: Ecco le nuove rotte dall'aeroporto di Palermo".
  18. ^ "Neos apre il volo diretto Palermo-New York da giugno". Travelnonstop (in Italian). 6 November 2023. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  19. ^ "Ryanair NS23 A320 Network Additions – 05FEB23". Aeroroutes.
  20. ^ "L'Abruzzo toglie addizionale e Ryanair apre il Palermo-Pescara".
  21. ^ "Mniej tras Ryanair z Modlina, więcej z Katowic i Poznania". 5 March 2024.
  22. ^ "Ryanair May – Oct 2023 Italy Frequency Variations – 14MAY23". Aeroroutes.
  23. ^ "Ryanair plans new route between Croatia and Italy – 28OCT24".
  24. ^ a b "Ryanair NW23 Network Changes – 17SEP23".
  25. ^ "Ryanair cuts 17 routes and 19 aircraft from Dublin Airport over 45% increase in airport costs". 21 September 2023.
  26. ^ "Ryanair NS23 Network Additions Summary – 26MAR23". Aeroroutes.
  27. ^ "Smartwings vola su Palermo". 10 June 2023.
  28. ^ "Biuro podróży ITAKA | Wakacje - wycieczki i wczasy zagraniczne". itaka.pl.
  29. ^ "SWISS NW24 Europe Frequency Changes – 27OCT24". Aeroroutes. Aeroroutes. Retrieved 30 October 2024.
  30. ^ "Transavia France NS24 Network Additions – 19DEC23". Aeroroutes. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
  31. ^ "United Airlines Bets on Offbeat Destinations, Adds Mongolia and Greenland for 2025". Skift. 10 October 2024. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
  32. ^ "Malta's Universal Air to launch scheduled ops out of Malta". 13 March 2024.
  33. ^ "Nueva ruta Bilbao-Palermo: Volotea conectará Euskadi con Italia dos veces por semana desde abril– 13NOV24".
  34. ^ "Volotea, profumo di Francia: dalla prossima primavera ecco il Palermo-Bordeaux".
  35. ^ "Volotea avvicina Palermo alla Bretagna: arriva l'aereo diretto per Brest".
  36. ^ a b "EI-EDM Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  37. ^ Hradecky, Simon (24 September 2010). "Accident: Windjet A319 at Palermo on Sep 24th 2010, touched down short of runway". Aviation Herald. Retrieved 25 September 2010.
  38. ^ "Falcone–Borsellino Airport". Retrieved 6 February 2017.
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  Media related to Palermo Punta Raisi Airport at Wikimedia Commons