Trieste Airport is an international Italian airport 33 km northwest of Trieste. The airport is located near Ronchi dei Legionari in the former province of Gorizia and serves as a commercial airport for the entire Friuli-Venezia Giulia region. Since the airport is located approximately halfway between Udine in the northwest and Trieste in the southeast and cities such as Gorizia and Monfalcone are closer than Trieste, it is officially referred to as Aeroporto Friuli Venezia Giulia to better take account of the geographical conditions. The original name Trieste-Ronchi dei Legionari, i.e. after the capital of the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region and after the municipality on whose territory the airport is located, is still very common. In 2007, the Aeroporto Friuli Venezia Giulia was also named after the Italian-French African traveler Pietro Savorgnan di Brazzà, whose family was originally from Friuli. The airport also advertises with the name No-Borders Airport, because its catchment area extends to the neighboring states of Slovenia and Croatia and partly to Carinthia.

History

The airfield of Ronchi dei Legionari was opened at the end of 1935. It was used militarily and civilly and served in particular as the factory airfield of the Monfalcone-based company CANT/CRDA (Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico). In 1949, the pilotFurio Lauri moved his aircraft construction and repair company "Meteor S.p.A." to the airfield and restored it. In 1954, the Italian government chose the airfield as the location for a new commercial airport for the northeastern Italian border region, which was to replace the too small and border-bound Gorizia airfield. In October 1956, several municipalities, a tourism association and the Meteor company merged into a consortium that advanced the construction of the commercial airport. In 1961, a 1100-meter-long and 60-meter-wide grass track was opened, from which on the 2nd December of that year, the first scheduled flight to Rome started. Until 1965, the take-off railway was asphalted and a new passenger terminal was built. International air traffic began in 1967 with charter flights of the German LTU between Trieste and Düsseldorf. In 1970, more than 100,000 passengers were handled. The runway received a first instrument landing system and was extended to 3000 meters in 1978. In 1982, a new tower could be put into operation. In 1996, there were over 500,000 passengers for the first time. In 1998, the converted and expanded passenger terminal was opened and supplemented by two passenger bridges in 2003. In addition, there was also a new freight terminal. Extensions of the apron followed until 2005. In the summer of 2019, the take-off runway was completely renovated; flight operations could continue in the meantime because the runway running parallel to the runway was temporarily allowed after conversions and expansions as a replacement runway for take-offs and landings.