Which Are Italy’s Busiest Airports?

Italy is a tourist magnet. However, its aviation market is quite a unique one. A flag carrier has historically failed to take control over the many incoming tourists with most of them coming in on foreign carriers non-stop or after a stopover in one of Europe’s major hubs. This might change in coming years if ITA Airways plays its cards right. That also means that there isn’t a mega airport in the country as found in France, Germany, Netherlands, and the UK. Let’s find out though which are the busiest airports in Italy, and which have the highest figures of international traffic.

Which Are Italy’s Busiest Airports in 2024?

Let’s dive straight into some passenger figures. No surprises as for the first two positions in the standings. As predictable Rome Fiumicino and Milano Malpensa are the busiest airports in the country. The also serve the two largest cities in terms of popilation. The cities attract two very different crowds.

Rome is the most classic tourist magnet with tens of millions of passengers pouring into the city year in and year out. Milan is Italy’s financial capital and therefore has services to many other financial hotspots around the world. Moving on to figures here’s the standings by passenger numbers including both domestic and international flights:

Those less accustomed with Italy’s aviation market might be surprised to see an airport as Bergamo in the first three spots. But you must know that BGY or Milan Bergamo, despite it not being located in the city of Milan, has developed in a major low-cost carrier hub. The likes of Ryanair, Wizzair and in recent times even AirArabia use the airport to connect EU and non-EU destinations.

Interestingly 2024 saw Rome Fiumicino finally inch closer to the symbolic yet hugely important threshold of 50 million passengers. That result moves Italy’s largest airport closer to the European mega-hub. The latest renovations have also made transits much more convenient than ever before. That certainly also has helped boost its traffic figures

Italy’s Busiest Airports: Standings By Domestic Traffic Only

Let’s now take into account domestic traffic only. There’s quite a shakeup when we do so. Rome Fiumicino maintains top-dog position with 10.4 million passengers while second and third place go to the two major sicilian airports. Why is that? Sicily is one of the most sought after holiday destinations within Italy. Many Italians travel south to enjoy the beautiful beaches and good food particularly during the summer time.

Italy’s Busiest Airports: Standings By International Traffic Only

Let’s wrap things up looking at what the standings look like when taking international traffic (EU and non-EU) only into account. The standings change once again in this last analysis. This time Venice Marco Polo Airport comes into the top standings . Why’s that? Well Venice’s airport peculiarity is that it has little domestic traffic but plenty international traffic with a good chunk of it coming from outside the EU during the summer months.