Airways Magazine August 2024 | Page 37

AIRPORT REVIEW Florence
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Florence is due to upgrade its crucial infrastructure , including — besides a new airport runway — a public stadium , a new high-speed train station , and an urban tram system . In this framework , a new runway would reduce the noise pollution in some key residential areas while enabling the next generation quieter and more fuel-efficient jetliners to serve the city .
HISTORY , FACILITIES , INVESTMENTS
Florence Airport , as we know it today , was first developed in 1928 . Located in the northwest part of the city , its first iteration was inaugurated in 1931 . First used as a military base of secondary importance , it welcomed its first passenger flight at the end of the 1940s . At the time , Florence even had its own airline , Aerea Teseo , which operated that inaugural flight with a DC-3 . Soon after , the 1939-built runway was deemed insufficient . A few troubled decades followed , until the airport finally joined the Alitalia system and expanded its domestic network .
In 1990 , the airport was renamed ‘ Amerigo Vespucci ’, the explorer after whom ‘ America ’ is named , and , within six years , two new terminals were inaugurated and the runway was lengthened by 350m ( 1,150ft ). Located nearby Florence ’ s highest mountain , the Monte Morello , the existing runway does not allow IFR southbound landings .
Since 2015 , Florence airport has been owned by the Toscana Aeroporti company , which also owns
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