Brindisi Airport

Brindisi Airport

*Aeroporto di Brindisi*
Brindisi Airport; Aeroporto di Brindisi
AMSL	47 ft / 14 m
Coordinates	40°39′27″N 17°56′49″E / 40.65750°N 17.94694°E
Website	aeroportidipuglia.it
Map
	BDS Location of the airport in Italy BDS BDS (Italy)
Runways
Statistics (2023)
Passengers
Passengers	3,176,143
Passenger change 22-23	+3.6%
Aircraft movements	24,337
Movements change 22-23	-4.8%
Cargo (tons)	448
Cargo change 22-23	+531,0%
	Statistics from Assaeroporti

Brindisi Airport (IATA: BDS, ICAO: LIBR) (Italian: Aeroporto di Brindisi), also known as Brindisi Papola Casale Airport and Salento Airport, is an airport in Brindisi, in southern Italy, located 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) from the city center.

History

This airport was originally established as a military airbase in the 1920s. The first commercial flights serving Rome began in the 1930s with the establishment of the Ala Littoria in 1934. After World War II, Alitalia 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", named in memory of an Italian airman of the First World War.

The airport is officially named after Antonio Papola, in memory of the Italian aviator who 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 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.

Airlines and destinations

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

Airlines	Destinations
Aer Lingus	Seasonal: Dublin
Air Dolomiti	Seasonal: Munich
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna
British Airways	Seasonal: London–Heathrow
Brussels Airlines	Seasonal: Brussels
Catania
Zurich
Eurowings	Stuttgart Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn, Düsseldorf
Rome–Fiumicino
Luxembourg
Neos	Seasonal: Milan–Malpensa, Verona
Palermo, Stockholm–Arlanda, Venice, Wrocław
SkyAlps	Seasonal: Bolzano
Smartwings	Seasonal: Prague (begins 2 June 2024)^[4]
Zürich
Paris–Orly, Rotterdam/The Hague
TUI fly Belgium	Seasonal: Brussels
Ural Airlines	Seasonal charter: Moscow–Domodedovo (Suspended)^[5]
Volotea	Seasonal: Cagliari, Nantes
Barcelona
Wizz Air	Tirana^[6]

Statistics

Annual passenger traffic at BDS airport. See Wikidata query.

UN presence

For the same strategic reasons, in 1994 the airport was chosen as the main global logistics base by the United Nations to support its peacekeeping and peace enforcement 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 and officially known as the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (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.