Genoa Airport ( it, link=no, Aeroporto di Genova) also named Christopher Columbus Airport ("Aeroporto Cristoforo Colombo" in Italian) (), and commonly named ''Aeroporto di Genova-Sestri Ponente'' (Genoa-Sestri Ponente Airport), after the city district where it is located) is an

international airport An international airport is an airport with customs and border control facilities enabling passengers to travel between countries around the world. International airports are usually larger than domestic airports and they must feature longer ...

built on an artificial peninsula, west of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

, Italy.

Overview

The airport is the most important one of

Liguria Liguria (; lij, Ligûria ; french: Ligurie) is a Regions of Italy, region of north-western Italy; its Capital city, capital is Genoa. Its territory is crossed by the Alps and the Apennine Mountains, Apennines Mountain chain, mountain range and is ...

and it serves the city and

Port of Genoa The Port of Genoa it is one of the most important seaports in Italy, in competition with the ports of Marseille and Barcelona in the Mediterranean Sea. With a trade volume of 51.6 million tonnes, it is the busiest port of Italy after the port of ...

, as well as considerable population in Southern

Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

(

Asti Asti ( , , ; pms, Ast ) is a ''comune'' of 74,348 inhabitants (1-1-2021) located in the Piedmont region of northwestern Italy, about east of Turin in the plain of the Tanaro River. It is the capital of the province of Asti and it is deemed t ...

and

Alessandria Province The Province of Alessandria ( it, Provincia di Alessandria; pms, Provincia ëd Lissandria; in Piedmontese of Alessandria: ''Provinsa ëd Lissändria'') is an Italian province, with a population of some 425,000, which forms the southeastern part o ...

s, Southern areas of

Cuneo Province Cuneo (Italian), or Coni (Piedmontese), is a province in the southwest of the Piedmont region of Italy. To the west it borders on the French region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (departments of Alpes-Maritimes, Alpes-de-Haute-Provence and Hautes- ...

). In 2018, with 1,455,626 passengers having passed through the airport, Genoa is the 21st busiest Italian airport by passenger traffic. The Spanish low-cost airline

Volotea Volotea (stylised VOLOTEΛ) is a Spanish Low-cost carrier, low-cost airline registered in Castrillón, Asturias, Spain, with bases in Spain, Italy, France and Greece. History Volotea was established by Alaeo S.L. from Barcelona, a company crea ...

operates one of its four bases in Italy in Genoa Airport. It is currently operated by Aeroporto di Genova S.P.A., which has recently upgraded the airport complex. The airport is named after the notable Genoese navigator and explorer

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

, who is recalled in the monument '' La Vela di Colombo''. The airport was the manufacturing base for

Piaggio Aerospace Piaggio Aerospace, formerly Piaggio Aero Industries, is a multinational aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Villanova d'Albenga, Italy. The company designs, develops, manufactures and maintains aircraft, aero-engines, aerospace co ...

, an Italian aircraft design and production company. In January 2022,

announced to close their Genoa base after five years, leading to the cancellation of 14 routes.aviacionline.com
29 January 2022

The construction

Building an offshore airport was not a strange or unique solution only for

. Among the most conspicuous examples we can mention the infrastructures in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

or those of

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

Airlines and destinations

Statistics

Ground transportation

By car

Genoa Airport can be reached by travelling in the city's inner roads and by the A10 Motorway, with the closest exit being 'Genova Aeroporto'.

By taxi

Taxi stands can be found just outside the airport. For groups of at least 3 people, taxi fares can be fixed between the airport and the city's main railway stations: *Genova Piazza Principe (€7) *Genova Brignole (€8)

By bus and train

The closest railway station to the airport is Genova Sestri Ponente-Aeroporto, served by

Trenitalia Trenitalia is the primary train operator in Italy. A subsidiary of Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane, itself owned by the Italian government, the company was established in 2000 following a European Union directive on the deregulation of rail transp ...

regional trains to/from Piazza Principe/Brignole, Savona and Ventimiglia. The station is then connected to the airport by a bus service called Flybus, operated by AMT, which departs with a 15 minutes frequency every day between 6.00 am and 10.00 pm. Fares are €1,50 (AMT single tickets) or €1,60 (AMT+Trenitalia integrated fares). As of the 1st August 2020, regional bus operator APT resumed its Airport Shuttle service between the airport and the other localities in Genoa's Metropolitan City. A one way fare is €20, while a return journey costs €40. As of now, people wishing to travel on this service must book a seat at least 4 days before their travel date and must await a response from the operator's reservation department.

Incidents and accidents

*On February 25, 1999, Alitalia Flight 1553, a

Dornier 328 The Dornier 328 is a turboprop-powered commuter airliner. Initially produced by Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH, the firm was acquired in 1996 by Fairchild Aircraft. The resulting firm, named Fairchild-Dornier, manufactured the 328 family in Oberpfaffe ...

, operated by

Minerva Airlines Minerva Airlines was an airline based in Italy, which was operational from 1996 to 2003. The airline suspended operations due to bankruptcy on 25 October 2003. It had operated eight Dornier 328-110 aircraft partly under a codeshare agreement wit ...

, operated a flight from

Cagliari-Elmas Airport Cagliari Elmas Airport is an international airport located in the territory of Elmas, near Cagliari, on the Italian island of Sardinia. History The airport opened on 3 May 1937. It was upgraded in 2003 and the terminal was expanded and provide ...

to Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport. On landing on runway 29, the aircraft overshot the end of the runway and crashed into the sea, due to excessive tailwind and late touchdown. Four of the 31 passengers and crew died in the accident.

References

External links

Official website
* {{Authority control Airports in Italy Cristoforo Colombo Airport

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...

Tourism in Genoa Monuments and memorials to Christopher Columbus