PALERMO'S AIRPORT

Palermo International Airport (IATA: PMO, ICAO: LICJ), also known as Falcone-Borsellino Airport and Punta Raisi Airport is located at Punta Raisi, about 35 km (20 miles) west of Palermo, the capital city of the Italian island of Sicily. The airport is one of the busiest in Italy, with 4.446.142 passengers in 2008.

The airport was given the name Falcone-Borsellino in memory of the two leading anti-mafia judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino who were murdered by the mafia in 1992. A 1.90m (6 feet 2.8 inches) diameter plaque featuring their portraits can be found to the right of one the main outside entrance to the departure hall, set into a mosaic of Sicily. Created by the sicilian sculptor Tommaso Geraci, it bears the inscription Giovanni Falcone - Paolo Borsellino - Gli Altri - L'orgoglio della Nuova Sicilia (Giovanni Falcone - Paolo Borsellino - The Others - The Pride of the New Sicily).

Airlines and destinations

Air Malta (Malta) [begins May 15]
Air One (Milan-Linate, Milano-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino, Turin, Naples)
Alitalia (Milan-Linate, Rome-Fiumicino)
Clickair (Barcelona)
Blu-express (Rome-Fiumicino)
Brussels Airlines (Brussels)
easyJet (London-Gatwick [begins June 27], Milan-Malpensa, Rome-Fiumicino)
Eurofly (New York-JFK) [begins May 10]
Iberia
- operated by Air Nostrum (Madrid) [begins July 24]
Luxair (Luxembourg)
Myair (Foggia, Milan-Orio al Serio, Venice-Marco Polo)
Meridiana (Bologna, Cagliari, Florence [begins June 1], Milan-Linate, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Verona)
- operated by Avanti Air (Lampedusa, Pantelleria, Trapani)
Ryanair (London-Stansted, Milan-Orio al Serio, Pisa)
Scandinavian Airlines System (Oslo) [ends October 25]
TUIfly (Cologne/Bonn, Hannover, Memmingen, Munich, Stuttgart)
Transavia (Paris-Orly)
Tunisair (Tunis)
Wind Jet (Barcelona, Forlì, Milan-Linate, Nantes, Paris-Charles de Gaulle, Parma, Pisa, Rome-Fiumicino, Turin, Venice, Verona)

The Company

GESAP S.p.a. is the airport management company of "Falcone e Borsellino" Airport in Palermo. It has a fully paid-up share capital of € 15,912,332.00 divided between the Regional Province of Palermo, the Comune of Palermo, the Chamber of Commerce, the Comune of Cinisi and other minor partners.

Established in 1985, until 1994 Gesap operated exclusively as handler and supplier of ground services for Palermo airport, the management of which is directly assigned by the government and overseen by the District Airport Directorate.

In 1994, Gesap was charged with the partial management of the airport through a Convention which granted the company a 20-year mandate to run land side activities (the airport buildings and surrounding areas).

In April 1999, GESAP obtained an anticipated mandate to manage the airport's air side activities, and, more specifically, the flight infrastructures (runways, links, taxiways and aprons) as foreseen by art. 17 L. 135/97.

As airport management company, Gesap plans, creates and manages the airport's areas, infrastructures and systems, ensuring the necessary maintenance and implementation of the same. It also provides centralised services such as airport coordination, public information systems, security controls and surveillance as well as managing commercial outlets through concessions to third parties.

In April 2004, GESAP was awarded UNI ISO 9001/2000 (Vision 2000) certification. The company had already received certification for its services and processes in the handling sector and this too was renewed by the certification body, TUV, in December 2006.

On 30 May 2004, ENAC awarded GESAP an "Airport Certificate" in recognition of the airport's full conformity with the regulations set down in ENAC's "Regulations for the construction and management of airports". On May 24, 2007 Gesap has obtained the renovation of "Airport Certificate" until May 30, 2010.

Today, after having recently transferred its handling sector to a controlled company, GH Palermo, GESAP is awaiting a ministerial decree that will grant it a forty-year concession for the total management of the airport. This comes after the deliberation of ENAC's Board of Directors on March 1, 2005 that was officialised in a Convention signed on November 17, 2006.