Milan Bergamo is entering 2019 after what has been a record-breaking year for Italy’s third-largest airport.

During 2018, a total of 12,937,881 passengers passed through the airport, up 4.9 per cent versus 2017, while the number of aircraft movements increased by four per cent during the same period to 89,533 for the year.

The airport also processed 123,031 tonnes of cargo.

“Last year was a fantastic year in the history of Milan Bergamo Airport,” commented Giacomo Cattaneo, director of commercial aviation, SACBO.

“We welcomed over 600,000 additional passengers when compared to 2017, while over 20 new routes were launched, including our first-ever scheduled flights to Austria, Croatia and Jordan.

“On top of this, many other existing services saw frequency increases to cater for growing demand, while new airline partners such as Vueling added services over the festive period to accommodate for the increased demand.”

Cattaneo added: “To cater for the growing demand for travel from Milan Bergamo, the airport has made several infrastructure changes over the past 12 months, including the addition of eight new aircraft parking stands and creating larger spaces within the terminal, therefore improving the passenger experience and adding more capacity to our existing infrastructure.”

Looking ahead to 2019, the future is looking good for Milan Bergamo too, with ten new routes already confirmed for the summer season.

“Having launched flights to Vienna in October, our most recent airline partner Laudamotion has confirmed it will begin services on a second route in 2019, adding flights to Stuttgart from 27 February,” informed Cattaneo.

“Along with this addition, our largest airline partner Ryanair will add services to Heraklion, Kalamata, London Southend, Sofia, Zadar and Zakynthos.

“We are also gearing up to welcome three new airline partners in summer 2019, with Romanian national carrier TAROM establishing services from Oradea in April, while TUIfly Belgium will commence services to Casablanca in June.

“Finally, we will host Italian national carrier Alitalia as it begins operations to Rome Fiumicino in July, with up to four daily flights being offered.”

As Milan Bergamo continues to grow, it is expected that the airport will break through the 13 million passenger barrier in 2019, with the airport offering over 125 routes spread across 38 country markets this upcoming summer.