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 built on an artificial peninsula, west of

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

, Italy.

Overview

The airport is the most important one of

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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

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( Asti 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 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 created by former Vue ...

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 ...

, 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 or those of

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

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

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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 tra ...

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 Oberpfaffen ...

, operated by Minerva Airlines, 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 Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic gro ...

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 surfa ...

Tourism in Genoa Monuments and memorials to Christopher Columbus