Brindisi Airport

Brindisi Airport, officially Aeroporto del Salento, is the second-busiest airport in the Apulia (Puglia) region of southeastern Italy after Bari, handling roughly 3.1 million passengers annually. Its formal designation — the 'Airport of Salento' — reflects its marketing positioning as the gateway to the Salento peninsula, the heel of Italy's boot, including Lecce, Otranto, Gallipoli, and the coastal resorts between the Adriatic and Ionian seas. BDS has emerged as one of Italy's most rapidly growing airports in the 2010s and 2020s, driven by low-cost carrier expansion into a region that was underserved through most of the aviation deregulation era. Ryanair is by far the dominant operator, with a substantial base and year-round service to more than 20 European cities. Wizz Air, easyJet, Ita Airways (to Rome and Milan Linate), Lufthansa, Volotea, and seasonal operators Jet2, Neos, and Enter Air round out the network. The airport is operated by Aeroporti di Puglia, the regional airport authority that also manages Bari, Foggia, and Taranto. A single runway, 13/31, measures 8,858 ft (2,700 m) and comfortably handles 737, A320, and smaller widebody equipment. The passenger terminal was substantially expanded in the 2010s, with seven jet bridges and modern check-in and security layouts. BDS sits 6 km (3.7 mi) northwest of central Brindisi and is notable for being one of the closest major airports to the Adriatic and Ionian coasts in Italy; the nearest beach is a 10-minute drive and the port of Brindisi (for ferries to Greece and Albania) is 8 km (5 mi) from the terminal. The airport shares some facilities with the neighboring Italian Air Force 36th Wing.