Brindisi Airport ( it, link=no, Aeroporto di Brindisi), also known as ''Brindisi Papola Casale Airport'' and ''Salento Airport'', is an

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 surfa ...

in Brindisi, in southern Italy, located from the city center.

History

This airport was originally established as a military airbase in the 1920s. The first commercial flights serving

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

began in the 1930s with the establishment of the

Ala Littoria Ala Littoria S.A. was the Italian national airline that operated during the fascist regime in the 1930s and 1940s. History ''Ala Littoria'' was formed by a merger of Società Aerea Mediterranea (SAM), Società Anonima Navigazione Aerea (SANA) ...

in 1934. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The ai ...

took over the route and added a flight to Catania. As of 2008, it has officially changed its legal status into civilian airport, still maintaining operational the military facilities attached to it. These are identified with its original name "Military Airport

Orazio Pierozzi ''Lieutenant (navy), Tenente di Vascello'' Orazio Pierozzi (1884–1919) was a World War I flying ace credited with seven aerial victories. Biography Orazio Pierozzi was born in San Casciano Val di Pesa in the Kingdom of Italy on 8 December 1884. ...

", named in memory of an Italian airman of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. The airport is officially named after Antonio Papola, in memory of the Italian aviator died on 13 February 1948 in an air accident who had a special bond with the city. It is also officially known as "Casale" with reference to the contiguous neighborhood in Brindisi with the same name and also as "

Salento Salento (Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, ...

Airport" with reference to the geographic region where it is located. The strategic position of the airport in the Mediterranean region, along with its multi-modal connections with the highway and the port a few kilometers away, have made it a base of crucial importance for both national defense and

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

Airlines and destinations

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

Statistics

UN presence

For the same strategic reasons, in 1994 the airport was chosen as the main global logistics base by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

to support its peacekeeping and

peace enforcement Peace enforcement is the use of military force to compel peace in a conflict, generally against the will of combatants. To do this, it generally requires more military force than peacekeeping operations. The United Nations, through its Security Coun ...

operations around the world, which was previously hosted in Pisa Military Airport "San Giusto". In 2000, the United Nations humanitarian supply depot was also moved from Pisa to Brindisi. It has since then been managed by the

World Food Programme The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен� ...

and officially known as the

United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot The United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) is an international network of six humanitarian support hubs located strategically around the world, that provide supply chain solutions to the international humanitarian community. The hubs ar ...

(UNHRD). On behalf of governments, other UN agencies and NGOs, from UNHRD Brindisi humanitarian aid is directed to the most remote and devastated regions around the world.

References

External links