Catania–Fontanarossa Airport

Catania–Fontanarossa Airport (IATA: CTA, ICAO: LICC), also known as Vincenzo Bellini Airport (Italian: Aeroporto Internazionale Vincenzo Bellini di Catania-Fontanarossa), is an international airport 2.3 NM (4.3 km; 2.6 mi) southwest^[1] of Catania, the second largest city on the Italian island of Sicily. It is named after the opera composer Vincenzo Bellini, who was born in Catania.

Quick Facts Catania–Fontanarossa Airport Aeroporto di Catania-Fontanarossa, Summary ...

Aeroporto di Catania-Fontanarossa

IATA: CTA
ICAO: LICC

Summary

Airport type

Public

Operator

SAC

Location

Catania

Focus city for

Elevation AMSL

39 ft / 12 m

Coordinates

37°28′00″N 15°03′50″E

Website

aeroporto.catania.it

Map

CTA

Location within Sicily

CTA

CTA (Italy)

Runways

Direction	Length		Surface
Direction	m	ft	Surface
08/26	2,560	7,989	Asphalt

Statistics (2022)

Passengers	10,099,441
Passenger change 21-22	64.9%
Aircraft movements	72,505
Movements change 21-22	43.8%
Cargo (tons)	9,337.2
Cargo change 21-22	22.8%

Source: Italian AIP at EUROCONTROL^[1]
Statistics from Assaeroporti^[2]

According to Assaeroporti, it is the busiest airport in Sicily and the fourth busiest in Italy in 2020.^[3] Major airlines such as ITA Airways, Lufthansa and KLM offer services here and connect numerous European destinations such as Rome, Munich, Amsterdam and Berlin, while low-cost airlines such as easyJet and Ryanair offer flights to leisure destinations.

With nearly two million passengers carried in 2016, the Catania/Fontanarossa – Rome/Fiumicino route is Italy's busiest air route, and Europe's second busiest in 2021.^{[citation needed]}

History

Summarize

Perspective

Early years

Catania Airport's history dates back to 1924, when it was the region's first airport. During World War II it was seized by the Allies during the Sicily Campaign and used by the United States Army Air Forces as a military airfield. Twelfth Air Force used the airport as a combat airfield, stationing the 340th Bombardment Group, which flew B-25 Mitchells from 27 August to 19 November 1943. In addition, the HQ, 51st Troop Carrier Wing used the airport from 29 September 1943 to 29 June 1944. Various transport units used the airport for the rest of the war. After the war, it was turned back over to civil authorities.^[4]

By the late 1940s, it was clear that the airport was fast running out of space and it was deemed necessary to relocate it. In 1950, the new bigger and improved Catania Airport opened for business.

After 20 years of unexpected growth and high passengers levels, in 1981 it was once again necessary to restructure the airport to cope with demand. ^{[citation needed]}

Development since the 2000s

In order to cope with the increasing passengers figures, a new terminal, equipped with 22 gates and six loading bridges, opened on 8 May 2007 replacing the old facilities. ^{[citation needed]} The current "investment programme" has ensured that Catania Fontanarossa Airport continues to look forward and plan for growth over the next ten years, implementing a whole new infrastructure and making many additions, including a panoramic restaurant, a new airside runway and further office space.^{[citation needed]}

Ryanair started flying to Catania in 2013, initially announcing only one route to Catania while also starting operations to Comiso Airport, a new airport which opened in 2013 and is located approximately 100 km (60 mi) from Catania, near the city of Ragusa.^[5]

To cope with the fast passenger growth, two additional terminals were opened in 2018 (Terminal B and C). Terminal C is used exclusively by easyJet.

2023 Terminal Fire and temporary disruption

On 16 July 2023, a part of the airport was burned in a fire of unclear origin. Flights to Catania on that day were redirected to Comiso, Palermo and Trapani, and other flight activity was almost entirely interrupted until the following 19 July.^[6] Flights over the following 3 week period continued to be disrupted until the normal operations were fully resumed on 5 August.^[7]

Airlines and destinations

Summarize

Perspective

The following airlines operate regular scheduled and charter flights at Catania–Fontanarossa Airport:

More information Airlines, Destinations ...

Airlines	Destinations
Aegean Airlines	Seasonal: Athens^[8]
AeroItalia	Rome–Fiumicino^[9]
Aer Lingus	Seasonal: Dublin^[10]
Air Arabia	Casablanca^[11]
airBaltic	Seasonal: Riga^[12]
Air Cairo	Seasonal: Sharm El Sheikh^[13]
Air France	Seasonal: Paris–Charles de Gaulle^[14]
Air Serbia	Seasonal: Belgrade^[15]
Austrian Airlines	Seasonal: Vienna^[16]
British Airways	Seasonal: London–Gatwick^[17]
DAT	Lampedusa,^[18] Pantelleria^[18]
Delta Air Lines	Seasonal: New York–JFK (begins 23 May 2025)^[19]
easyJet	Basel/Mulhouse, Berlin, Geneva, London–Gatwick, London–Luton, Milan–Malpensa, Naples, Paris–Charles de Gaulle Seasonal: Bordeaux,^{[citation needed]} Bristol,^{[citation needed]} Edinburgh,^[20] Lyon,^{[citation needed]} Manchester,^{[citation needed]} Nantes,^{[citation needed]}
Edelweiss Air	Seasonal: Zurich^[21]
Eurowings	Düsseldorf,^[22] Stuttgart^[23] Seasonal: Cologne/Bonn,^[24] Dortmund,^{[citation needed]} Hamburg^[25]
flydubai	Dubai–International
FLYYO	Seasonal charter: Tel Aviv^[26]
GoTo Fly	Forlì
Iberia	Seasonal: Madrid^[27]
Israir	Seasonal: Tel Aviv^[28]
ITA Airways	Milan–Linate,^[29] Rome–Fiumicino^[30]
Jet2.com	Seasonal: Birmingham,^[31] Edinburgh (begins 7 May 2025),^[32]^[33] Leeds/Bradford,^{[citation needed]} London–Stansted,^{[citation needed]} Manchester^{[citation needed]}
KLM	Amsterdam^[34]
KM Malta Airlines	Malta^[35]
Lufthansa	Frankfurt,^[36] Munich^[36]
Luxair	Seasonal: Luxembourg^{[citation needed]}
Neos	Seasonal: Bergamo,^{[citation needed]} Heraklion,^{[citation needed]} Milan–Malpensa,^{[citation needed]} Rhodes,^{[citation needed]} Verona^{[citation needed]}
Norwegian Air Shuttle	Seasonal: Copenhagen,^[37] Oslo,^[38] Stockholm–Arlanda^[39]
Ryanair^[40]	Ancona, Bari, Beauvais,^[41]^[42] Bergamo, Berlin, Bologna, Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Cagliari, Charleroi, Eindhoven, Genoa, Hahn, Katowice, Kraków, London–Stansted,^[43] Madrid, Malta, Milan–Malpensa, Naples, Perugia, Pescara, Pisa, Prague,^[41]^[44] Rome–Fiumicino, Seville, Sofia, Tirana,^[45] Trieste, Turin, Venice, Verona, Vienna, Warsaw–Modlin Seasonal: Alghero,^{[citation needed]} Athens,^[46] Heraklion,^[47] London–Luton,^{[citation needed]} Marseille,^{[citation needed]} Rhodes^[48]
Scandinavian Airlines	Seasonal: Copenhagen,^[49] Oslo^[50]
SkyAlps	Seasonal: Bolzano^[51]
Smartwings	Seasonal: Prague,^[52] Seasonal charter: Warsaw–Chopin^[53]
Swiss International Air Lines	Seasonal: Geneva^[54]
Transavia	Seasonal: Amsterdam,^[55] Paris–Orly^{[citation needed]}
TUI fly Belgium	Seasonal: Brussels^{[citation needed]}
Turkish Airlines	Istanbul
Volotea	Ancona, Verona Seasonal: Florence,^{[citation needed]} Lourdes,^{[citation needed]} Nantes,^{[citation needed]} Olbia,^{[citation needed]} Salerno,^[56] Toulouse^{[citation needed]}
Vueling	Barcelona,^[57] Florence
Wizz Air	Bologna, Bucharest–Otopeni, Budapest, Iași, Katowice, Kraków,^[58] Memmingen, Milan–Malpensa, Prague, Sofia, Tirana, Turin,^[59] Venice, Verona,^[60] Warsaw–Chopin Seasonal: Cluj-Napoca,^[61] London–Gatwick,^{[citation needed]} Sharm El Sheikh^[62]

Statistics

Graphs are unavailable due to technical issues. Updates on reimplementing the Graph extension, which will be known as the Chart extension, can be found on Phabricator and on MediaWiki.org.

Annual passenger traffic at CTA airport. See Wikidata query.

Ground transportation

Train

A new train station, Catania-Aeroporto Fontanarossa served by regional train lines such as the Messina-Syracuse railway, the Catania-Palermo railway, as well as the Catania-Caltagirone railway. Catania-Aeroporto Fontanarossa rail station is part of Catania's suburban railway line. The station is situated between Bicocca and Catania-Acquicella stations.^[63] A typical journey to and from Catania Central Station will take less than 10 minutes, and approximately one hour to and from Syracuse or Taormina train stations.^[64]

Car

The airport is located close to the A19 motorway, which links Catania with Palermo and central Sicily, while the European route E45 runs to Syracuse in the south.

Bus

A shuttle bus service provides transport into Catania city centre and the Central Train Station, while scheduled bus services to other parts of the island^[65] are also available direct from the airport. The main bus station is opposite the railway station and 10 minutes walk from the city centre.