From the Olympic Video games to the trials of covid, the story of Rome’s foremost airport.

Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci Worldwide Airport, higher referred to as Fiumicino, opened to air site visitors on 20 August 1960, 5 days earlier than the beginning of town’s Olympic Video games.

The airport, seen as an emblem of restart throughout Italy’s post-war financial increase, was inaugurated formally on 15 January 1961.

Designed to deal with growing demand for flights to the Italian capital, the brand new airport happened after two designs have been merged: plans by Riccardo Morandi and Andrea Zavitteri have been mixed with these by Amedeo Luccichenti and Vincenzo Monaco.

The ultimate undertaking was accepted in August 1958 and the development works lasted 21 months, throughout which the stays of 5 historical Roman ships have been found.

Through the 1960 Olympics, Fiumicino (FCO) was used to assist alleviate Rome’s different airport, Ciampino.

Fiumicino didn’t develop into absolutely operational nonetheless till 15 January 1961, with the touchdown of the primary airliner: the Twa Lockheed Constellation, from New York.

Positioned about 35 km southwest of the centre of Rome, Fiumicino consisted of simply two runways in the Nineteen Sixties, with a 3rd one added in 1973 together with a brand new hangar to accommodate Boeing 747s.

Lately the airport has received a number of awards, nonetheless its stage of organisation and customer support was not all the time on the excessive stage it enjoys right this moment.

Over the previous six a long time the airport has additionally been affected by tragic occasions such because the terrorist assaults in 1973 (32 lifeless) and in 1985 (13 lifeless).

Fiumicino suffered a setback too with a hearth on 7 Could 2015, which unfold to Terminal 3, inflicting appreciable disruption however no critical accidents.

Fiumicino has just lately undergone an in depth modernisation programme and has been to the forefront in technological improvement, changing into the primary Italian airport to put in e-gates.

The airport has additionally achieved a lot success with awards, together with amongst passengers, and in 2019 it welcomed round 44 million passengers.

2020 was maybe Fiumicino’s most troublesome 12 months thus far, because of the coronavirus pandemic, nonetheless the airport rose to the problem by implementing strict covid laws.

The airport was additionally just lately recognised by the United Nations World Tourism Group (UNWTO) for its dedication to sustainability.

In Could 2022 the airport inaugurated an enormous new boarding space linked to Terminal 1, outfitted with 23 gates, following a funding of €400 million by its administration firm Aeroporti di Roma (AdR).

In June 2022 Fiumicino was rated Greatest European Airport for the fourth time within the final 5 years, a world recognition awarded by Airports Council Worldwide (ACI) within the class of hubs with greater than 40 million passengers.

Cowl picture credit score: Francesco Lorenzetti / Shutterstock.com.