Verona Villafranca Airport, also known as Valerio Catullo Airport or Villafranca Airport, is located southwest of Verona, Italy. The airport is situated next to the junction of A4 Milan-Venice and A22 Modena-Brenner motorways. It serves a population of more than 4 million inhabitants in the provinces of Verona, Brescia, Mantua and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol.
History
Early years
was a military airport during the First World War. It became open to civil traffic in the early 1910s with daily scheduled connections to Rome and charter flights to destinations in northern Europe. Towards late 1970s, under the first community project by the Province of Verona, Comune of Verona and the localChamber of Commerce, Villafranca Airport constructed a passenger terminal, offices and handling facilities. The managing society, Aeroporto Valerio Catullo di Verona Villafranca S.P.A., was established in December 1978. Ownership is currently shared between provincial governments from Veneto, Lombardy, Trentino and Alto Adige/Südtirol.
In 1990, the passenger terminal was expanded in order to cope with the constantly growing air traffic. The aircraft apron and car-parking areas were enlarged; in addition, access to the airport was improved by a road link to Verona's new ring road in preparation for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. In 1995, the airport reached a record of handling one million passengers per annum. In 1999, the airport became Italy's second-grade airport in the 'Special Classification of Charter Traffic' and ranked after Milan Malpensa Airport and Rome Fiumicino Airport. During the Bosnian War, the airport was used by NATO aircraft as a staging area. Passenger numbers continued to grow: 2 million per year in 2001 and 3 million per year in 2006. In response to the strong demand in patronage, the airport undertook a significant expansion programme on its services and facilities. In May 2006, a new arrivals terminal, Terminal 2, was opened by the Vice-Minister of Transport, Cesare De Piccoli, and Vice-President of Veneto Region, Luca Zaia. This additional terminal is situated immediately next to the original building, now known as Terminal 1. As a result of the expansion programme, the airport's capacity doubled. Hence Terminal 1 is used solely for departures and Terminal 2 for arrivals.
Recent development: 2010s
Air traffic continued to grow during the 2010s, with 3,385,794 passengers recorded in 2011. After a European Union investigation into high subsidies being granted to Ryanair on their scheduled routes, the airline pulled out of Villafranca Airport in 2012. This caused a reduction in passenger traffic in 2013. In 2015, Ryanair reintroduced services to the airport with scheduled flights to Palermo, London Stansted and Brussels. Several airlines have switched their charter routes to regular services during the Winter Season 2015-16: Finnair flies between Verona and Helsinki and AirBaltic flies between Verona and Riga. The route between Paris and Verona, as operated byAir France, however, ceased operation in late October 2015, having been replaced with flights operated by its low-cost subsidiary, Transavia.
Facilities
Verona-Villafranca Airport is equipped with a fog-dispersal device, which remains the best solution available in Italy and abroad to date, so that flight operations could continue during times of low visibility. This system has been in operation since 2003 and allows pilots to land in visibility as low as. The runway is certified for ILS Category IIIb approach. The two terminals, departures and arrivals, are situated next to each other. The departures hall hosts check-in facilities at the eastern side. The lounge is located on the first floor's eastern wing. The main bus stand is located directly outside the arrivals hall.
Airlines and destinations
Statistics
Year
Passengers
2000
2 293 799
2001
2 188 068
2002
2 185 785
2003
2 452 723
2004
2 687 565
2005
2 649 655
2006
3 007 965
2007
3 510 259
2008
3 402 601
2009
3 065 968
2010
3 022 784
2011
3 385 794
2012
3 198 788
2013
2 719 815
2014
2 775 616
2015
2 591 255
2016
2 807 811
2017
3 099 142
2018
2 823 558
Ground transportation
A shuttle bus service, Aerobus operated by ATV, connects Verona-Villafranca Airport directly with Verona Porta Nuova station. During the summer months, ATV buses 164, 183 and 184 additionally provide hourly connections between Verona-Villafranca Airport en route to comunes along Lake Garda/Lago di Garda.
