List of airports in Sicily

This is a list of airports in Sicily, grouped by type and sorted by location.

Palermo's terminal and apron.

On the island of Sicily there are six main airports and several smaller airfields catering to general aviation. There are also two small airports on the Sicilian islands of Lampedusa and Pantelleria. In 2011 the airports of Sicily[1] collectively handled 13,257,369 passengers.

History

The first airfield to open on the island was Catania Airport in May 1924 followed by Palermo–Boccadifalco Airport that was opened on 28 June 1931. In the 1930s, during the Italian fascist era, several airfields such as Trapani–Milo Airport (1936), Comiso Airport (1937), Pantelleria Airport (1938) and Ponte Olivo Airfield were built to control the Mediterranean Sea but during World War II all airfields on the islands were heavily bombarded by the British Royal Air Force based on Malta. The construction of Trapani–Chinisia Airfield was completed in 1949 and Trapani–Milo Airport was closed. In 1959 the American military took over the old airfield at Sigonella that had been abandoned since the end of the war. During the 1950s, Palermo's airport was the third-busiest airport by volume of traffic in Italy and construction for a bigger airport began. The new Palermo–Punta Raisi Airport opened in 1960. In 1961, with the completion of Trapani–Birgi Airport commercial flights were moved to the new airport leaving only military activity at Trapani–Chinisia, which eventually closed altogether in 1970. In 1968 Lampedusa Airport was completed.

Airports

Many of the closed and some of the active airports were originally opened before IATA and ICAO codes were used but each Italian airport had an ID number used by the Italian Regia Aeronautica to codify the airfield.

Active airports
Map of airports in Sicily as in 2011
Trapani's terminal (exterior)
Comiso's new runway

Airport names shown in bold have scheduled passenger service on commercial airlines.

Location ICAO IATA Old ID Airport name Total passengers 2013
International airports
Catania LICC CTA 503 Catania Airport 6,400,127
Palermo LICJ PMO Palermo–Punta Raisi Airport 4,349,672
Trapani LICT TPS Trapani–Birgi Airport 1,878,557
Comiso LICB CIY 508 Comiso Airport 59,513
National airports
Lampedusa LICD LMP Lampedusa Airport 170,274[2]
Pantelleria LICG PNL 515 Pantelleria Airport 117,826[3]
Palermo LICP — 507 Palermo–Boccadifalco Airport n.a.
Military airports
Sigonella LICZ NSY Naval Air Station Sigonella n.a.

Former airports
Location Old ID Airport name Note
Former airports
Trapani 514 Trapani–Milo Airport closed in 1949, today used by the ISA as a launch site for stratospheric balloons
Trapani 516 Trapani–Chinisia Airfield closed in 1970
Gela 502 Ponte Olivo Airfield closed in 1962
Castelvetrano 511 Castelvetrano Airfield closed in 1960s
Sciacca 501 Sciacca Airfield abandoned after WWII
Acate 504 Biscari–Santo Pietro Airfield abandoned after WWII
Gerbini 505 Gerbini Airfield abandoned after WWII
Milazzo 506 Milazzo Airfield abandoned after WWII
Marsala 513 Marsala–Carcitella Airfield abandoned after WWII
Pachino 517 Pachino Airfield abandoned after WWII
Licata — Licata Airfield abandoned after WWII
Agrigento — Agrigento Airfield abandoned after WWII
Cassibile — Cassibile Airfield abandoned after WWII

Former water aerodromes

During the 1920s and 1930s flights were operated from the Sicilian water aerodromes of Siracusa and Marsala to the cities of Rome and Naples on the Italian mainland and to the cities of Tripoli and Benghazi in Libya, using seaplanes and amphibious aircraft. There was also a postal service from Palermo's harbour there to Naples and a passenger-service on the route Rome–Palermo–Tunis. Enna–Nicoletti Water Aerodrome, located on a lake in central Sicily, was opened in 2007 and closed the following year.

Location ICAO Old ID Airport name Note
Former water aerodromes
Palermo — — Palermo–Porto Water Aerodrome open
Enna — — Enna–Nicoletti Water Aerodrome closed in 2008
Siracusa LICK 510 Siracusa–De Filippis Water Aerodrome closed in 2008
Marsala LIFM 512 Marsala–Stagnone Water Aerodromes closed in the 1990s
Augusta — 509 Augusta–Spagnolo Water Aerodrome closed in 1991

Notes
  1. Passengers travelling via CTA, PMO and TPS only.
  2. [Statistics for 2012]
  3. [Statistics for 2012]
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