Reggio di Calabria "Tito Minniti" Airport , also known as Aeroporto dello Stretto (''Airport of the Strait'') is an

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

located in

Reggio Calabria Reggio di Calabria (; ), commonly and officially referred to as Reggio Calabria, or simply Reggio by its inhabitants, is the List of cities in Italy, largest city in Calabria as well as the seat of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria. As ...

, in southern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It serves mainly the Metropolitan City of Reggio and the

Province of Messina The province of Messina (; ) was a Provinces of Italy, province in the autonomous island region of Sicily, Italy. Its capital was the city of Messina. It was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Messina. Geography Territory It had an area of , ...

, and partially the

Province of Vibo Valentia The province of Vibo Valentia (; Vibonese: ) is a province in the Calabria region of Italy, set up by a national law of 6 March 1992, which came into effect on 1 January 1996, and formerly part of the province of Catanzaro. Its capital is the ...

; more than 1,350,000 people. Daily flights depart and arrive for and from several Italian cities, and are seasonally augmented by flights to various other countries.

History

Reggio military airport was inaugurated in 1939 (the first airport in Calabria), becoming operative for commercial flights in 1947; later it was named after Italian Royal Air Force war-hero Tito Minniti, who was born in

. Its

IATA airport code An IATA airport code, also known as an IATA location identifier, IATA station code, or simply a location identifier, is a unique three-letter geocode designating many airports, cities (with one or more airports) and metropolitan areas (citie ...

REG is derived from Reggio,

Calabria Calabria is a Regions of Italy, region in Southern Italy. It is a peninsula bordered by the region Basilicata to the north, the Ionian Sea to the east, the Strait of Messina to the southwest, which separates it from Sicily, and the Tyrrhenian S ...

's main city, which the airport is closest to. On the outskirts of the airport the training grounds of local football club Reggina Calcio are located. In March 2017,

Alitalia Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. ...

announced it would terminate all 56 weekly flights to and from the airport (to

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

and

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

) stating all routes were heavily loss-making. However, this decision was revoked shortly after. In summer 2017, Sacal S.p.A. (Società aeroportuale calabrese), also managing Lamezia Terme, took over the management of the airport.

Airlines and destinations

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

Statistics

Ground transport

The Reggio Calabria Airport is approximately south of Reggio's historic city centre. It is accessible by car or public transport. The airport is reachable in 7 minutes by regional trains from Reggio Calabria Centrale or Melito di Porto Salvo. Even the airport railway station has faced criticism by the local community, due to its distance from the terminal and the low number of passengers which use it. Otherwise, the airport is reachable by bus routes 27 and 27/ from the University and San Brunello and by the Port-Airport direct route, all of which are operated by ATAM and with nearby towns and ports by various provincial bus operators. There was also a projected pier to allow the docking of the ferries from

Messina Messina ( , ; ; ; ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of 216,918 inhabitants ...

, allowing the residents of the Sicilian city to use the Reggio Calabria Airport instead of driving south to

Catania Airport Catania (, , , Sicilian and ) is the second-largest municipality on Sicily, after Palermo, both by area and by population. Despite being the second city of the island, Catania is the center of the most densely populated Sicilian conurbation, wh ...

. This pier was built, but the prevailing winds did not allow the ferries to dock. This issue, together with low passenger numbers have caused the pier to be abandoned and used by fishermen, becoming a symbol of waste of public money.

References

External links

* *
AeroportiCalabria.com
- Info and offers for the passengers that are flying from the Airports of Lamezia, Reggio Calabria and Crotone *
airliners.net - Photogallery
{{authority control Airports in Italy

Airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial Aviation, air transport. They usually consist of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surf ...

Transport in Calabria Airfields of the United States Army Air Forces in Italy Airports established in 1939