Milan Bergamo Airport / Antonio Locatelli Air Base

Milan Bergamo Airport — officially Il Caravaggio International, named for the Lombard painter — is Italy's third-busiest airport and one of Europe's largest single-runway airports, handling roughly 17M passengers (2024) across 203 weekly routes to 153 destinations on 42 airlines. BGY sits 45 km (28 mi) northeast of Milan in the town of Orio al Serio, and functions primarily as Ryanair's single largest continental European base outside Dublin and Stansted — the Irish low-cost carrier operates more than 100 routes from Bergamo, making the airport effectively a dedicated Ryanair hub serving the Lombardy metropolitan area of roughly 10M residents. The airport's strategic position between Milan and Bergamo, combined with its low-fee environment for low-cost carriers, has driven explosive growth since the early 2000s — passenger numbers have tripled in 20 years, transforming BGY from a regional airfield into a primary gateway for the Italian low-cost leisure market. Wizz Air, Ryanair UK, and Air Cairo also operate significant Bergamo-based networks. A single 9,429 ft (2,874 m) asphalt runway (10/28) handles all commercial traffic, supplemented by a disused 2,343 ft (714 m) secondary strip. The terminal underwent a major expansion completed in 2023 adding 22,000 m² of capacity and a new concourse with jet bridges — BGY was historically a bus-boarding airport, a vestige of its low-cost-carrier orientation. Bergamo's 782 ft (238 m) elevation poses no performance constraint. International reach covers most of Europe, North Africa (Marrakech, Cairo, Tunis), and the Middle East (Tel Aviv, Amman, Kuwait), with Wizz Air adding long-thin routes to Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Armenia. A dedicated airport rail link to Bergamo's central station is under construction and scheduled for 2026 completion, closing the final gap in ground transport for what is currently Italy's largest airport without direct rail service.