Departure
96%
vs 95%
MY FS FLIGHTS
MY FS FLIGHTS
Florence Airport, Peretola (LIRQ/FLR), also known as Amerigo Vespucci Airport, is Tuscany's second-busiest airport after Pisa, lying on the plain between Florence and Sesto Fiorentino. For a simulator pilot it is a distinctive and testing field: a single short runway hemmed in by high ground, with landings and departures normally flown in opposite directions because of the terrain.
Florence Airport, Peretola, formally Amerigo Vespucci Airport, is the international airport serving Florence, the capital of Tuscany. It is operated by Toscana Aeroporti and is the second-busiest airport in the region behind Pisa. The field is of particular interest to simulator pilots because of its short single runway and the terrain-driven one-way operating pattern that shapes every arrival and departure.
The airport sits on the plain between Florence and the town of Sesto Fiorentino, close to the northern edge of the city. The high ground of Monte Morello lies close to the field to the north, and its proximity strongly influences how the runway is used. As an international airport with its own control tower and approach service, Florence sits within controlled airspace appropriate to a commercially served aerodrome.
Florence has a single physical runway, 05/23, of asphalt construction and lit. Runway 05 is available for a landing distance of 4,780 ft and is equipped with an ILS; the reciprocal, runway 23, offers 3,477 ft. There are no other active runways at the field.
Firenze Tower operates on 118.3 MHz. Approach can be contacted on 126.075 MHz, and the ATIS broadcasts on 129.35 MHz. Runway 05 is served by an ILS for instrument approaches.
Because of the close proximity of Monte Morello immediately north of the field, aircraft normally land on runway 05 and depart from runway 23, meaning traffic typically arrives from the south and departs to the south. The single taxiway is situated at the runway 05 end, with an overshoot and holding area at the runway 23 end, so after landing on 05 aircraft must backtrack down the runway to reach the parking area and terminal, and departing aircraft taxi down the runway to the holding area before backtracking for takeoff on 23.
The high ground of Monte Morello to the north of the airport is the dominant visual feature governing the runway-use pattern and is a useful reference for the approach to runway 05. The city of Florence, with its historic centre and skyline, lies close to the south-east of the field.
The first airfield serving Florence was established at Campo di Marte in 1910 for early military air navigation experiments, and it remained the city's airport through the 1920s until it became hemmed in by housing and unsuitable for larger aircraft. A new site on the plain between Florence and Sesto Fiorentino was chosen in 1928, and Peretola Airport opened there on 4 June 1931. In 1938-39 an asphalt runway 60 metres wide and 1,000 metres long, facing northeast, was constructed. During the Second World War the airfield was used by the Royal Italian Air Force and the Luftwaffe, and from 1944 by Allied air forces. Passenger flights began later in the 1940s, operated by Aerea Teseo using Douglas DC-3 aircraft, though that operator ceased trading in 1948. In the late 1950s and early 1960s Alitalia flew DC-3 services linking Florence with Rome, Venice and Milan, and ATI later added domestic Fokker F27 flights. In the early 1980s the airport was upgraded: the operating company Saf, later AdF, was founded in 1984, the runway was lengthened to 1,400 metres and lit, a VOR/DME navigation system was installed, and the terminal was rebuilt, with regular flights resuming in September 1986. In 1990 the airport was renamed after the Florence-born navigator Amerigo Vespucci. The runway was further extended by 250 metres in 1996, and in 2012 Vueling announced a base of operations at the airport.
Florence Airport today operates as a busy commercial international airport with a single short runway, on which arrivals and departures are normally flown in opposite directions because of the surrounding terrain. It handles scheduled services from a range of European carriers, and the compact terminal and constrained runway length limit the size of aircraft that can operate there. The airport's own operator is Toscana Aeroporti.