Bari Karol Wojtyła Airport
Bari Karol Wojtyła Airport () is an airport serving the city of Bari in Italy. It is approximately northwest from the town centre. Named after Pope John Paul II, who was born Karol Wojtyła, the airport is also known as Palese Airport () after a nearby neighbourhood. The airport handled 5 545 588 passengers in 2019 . History. Early years. The airport of Bari was originally a military airfield, built in the 1930s, by the Regia Aeronautica. During World War II Italian Campaign, it was seized by the British Eighth Army in late September 1943, and turned into an  Allied military airfield. Until the end of the war in May 1945, it was used by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces Twelfth and Fifteenth Air Forces both as an operational airfield as well as a command and control base. In addition, the airfield was used by the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force (Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana, or ACI), or Air Force of the South (Aeronautica del Sud). After the war, it was turned over to the postwar Air Force of the Italian Republic (Aeronautica Militare Italiana). In the 1960s, it was opened to civil flights  and Alitalia schedules regular flights to Rome, Catania, Palermo, Ancona, Venice. The routes were later taken over by ATI, using a Fokker F27 airplane. When ATI put into operation the new DC-9-30 it became necessary to create a new runway, while the military complex was still used as passenger terminal. In 1981, a new building was completed, originally intended to be used as a cargo terminal, but it became in fact the airport's new passenger terminal. Development since the 1990s. In 1990, with the 1990 FIFA World Cup, the runway was extended and the terminal was upgraded, going  through a further renovation in 2000. However, the traffic increase showed the infrastructural limitations of the airport and in 2002 the founding stone of the new passenger terminal was laid out. At the same time, flight infrastructures (aircraft parking areas, runway etc.) were upgraded. In 2005, the new terminal was completed and opened to passengers. In 2005, construction works for a new control tower began and they were completed the following year. In 2006, a further extension of the runway was begun, and in 2007, the planning of an extension of the passenger terminals was commissioned. They were upgraded in  2005–2006 with the opening of a new passenger terminal equipped with 4 jet bridges and a multistorey car park. Airlines and destinations. The following airlines operate regular scheduled, seasonal, and charter flights to and from Bari: Due to the cancellation of flights following the COVID-19 pandemic, this list is no longer current and destinations are subject to change without prior notice. Ground transportation. Road. The airport can be reached by the ring road of Bari and from the A14 motorway. Rail. The Bari metropolitan railway service connects the Airport with the Bari Centrale railway station in the city centre. Bus . AMTAB buses provide public transportation to the airport from the city centre (Line 16). Pugliairbus is a seasonal bus transportation service which operates interconnection service with Brindisi and Foggia airports. Pugliairbus also reaches touristic locations.