Departure
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MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Rome-Fiumicino Leonardo da Vinci International Airport is Italy's principal gateway, sited on the Tyrrhenian coast at Fiumicino some 30 km south-west of central Rome. It is a major hub for ITA Airways and a base for several other carriers, offering a busy multi-runway complex with full ILS coverage that makes it a substantial undertaking for any visiting VFR or IFR pilot in a simulator.
Fiumicino is Rome's main international airport, operated by Aeroporti di Roma, and serves the city, its metropolitan area, Vatican City and the wider Lazio region. It is named after the Italian polymath Leonardo da Vinci and stands as the busiest airport in Italy. For a simulator pilot it offers a realistic large-scale international environment, with parallel long runways, complex ground movements and heavy commercial traffic, making it a good study field for airline-style operations.
The airport lies at Fiumicino, on the coast about 30 km south-west of Rome's historic centre, within the Rome Fiumicino Metropolitan City area. It sits amid controlled airspace commensurate with a major international hub, with Rome Ciampino Airport, the smaller field it replaced for scheduled traffic, located to the south-east nearer central Rome. Coordinates for the field are 41.8003 N, 12.2389 E, at an elevation of 7 feet.
Fiumicino has three physical runway pairs. The two long parallel hard-surfaced runways, 16L/34R (12,763 ft) and 16R/34L (12,799 ft), are separated by roughly 4,000 metres and are both lit and equipped with ILS. A third runway, 07/25, is a hard surface lit runway used mainly for westward operations; the 25 threshold is listed at 10,419 ft and equipped with ILS, while the 07 threshold is listed at 9,458 ft without ILS.
Arrivals are worked by Roma Director on 120.175 MHz, with the airport ATIS broadcasting on 121.85 MHz. Ground and apron traffic at Fiumicino uses Fiume Gnd/Apron on 121.8 MHz, with Fiume Ramp handling clearance delivery on 121.725 MHz. Fiume Tower controls the runways on 118.7 MHz. The main runways are served by a Category IIIB instrument landing system, in operation since 2005, allowing a high rate of low-visibility approaches.
Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport was brought into use on 20 August 1960 to relieve congestion at Rome Ciampino Airport during the 1960 Summer Olympics, and was officially opened on 15 January 1961 with two runways, replacing Ciampino as Rome's main airport. During the 1960s the former home-based carrier Alitalia invested heavily in the new airport, building hangars and maintenance centres, and a third runway, 16L/34R, was added during this period. The airport once had a fourth runway, 16C/34C, alongside 16L/34R, used mainly as a taxiway or backup; it has since been redesignated as Taxiway D. Fiumicino has twice been the scene of terrorist attacks, in 1973 and again in 1985, both linked to Middle Eastern conflicts of the period. Since 2005 the field has operated a Category IIIB instrument landing system, and further work in 2007 raised low-visibility landing capacity from ten to thirty movements per hour.
Fiumicino remains Italy's busiest airport and serves as the principal hub for ITA Airways and for Poste Air Cargo, having previously been the hub for the former flag carrier Alitalia. It is also an operating base for Aeroitalia, easyJet, Neos, Ryanair, Vueling and Wizz Air. The airport is managed by Aeroporti di Roma, part of the Mundys transport holding group, and today comprises two main terminals, Terminal 1 and the larger Terminal 3, following closure and reconfiguration of former Terminal 2 and Terminal 5 facilities in recent years.
