The facility primarily handles low-cost traffic today.
The country of San Marino is one of just a handful not to be served by any commercial airports. Another example would be Andorra, a nation whose aviation prospects Simple Flying explored last year. Luckily, the microstate, whose area measures just 61 square km (24 square miles), does have such an airport nearby.
The facility in question is Federico Fellini International Airport (RMI), located just outside the city of Rimini. The airport is located on the east coast of Italy, the country by which San Marino is landlocked. Depending on the route, Rimini Airport is between 25 and 30 km (15.5 – 18.6 miles) from San Marino's capital by road.
The facility, named after Italian screenwriter and film director Federico Fellini, has a single paved runway, which stretches for 2,964 meters with the headings 13/31. Traffic has fluctuated over the years, peaking at just over 920,000 passengers in 2011. This made it the 24th-busiest airport in Italy that year, as well as the busiest overall among facilities that handled less than a million customers.
According to the Aviation Safety Network, 2011 was also Rimini's recent peak in terms of the number of flights, with 9,122 serving the airport. By 2019, the last full year of pre-coronavirus 'normality,' its annual passenger total had fallen just below 400,000, with a total of 395,194 passengers passing through its doors that year.
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Much of Rimini Airport's traffic is seasonal, such as its entire contingent of Ryanair flights. The Irish low-cost giant serves the facility from Budapest, Cagliari, Kaunas, Kraków, London Stansted, Palermo, Vienna, and Warsaw Modlin. On the other hand, Wizz Air's flights from Bucharest and Tirana operate all year long.
A handful of European flag carriers also serve Rimini on a seasonal basis, with these being Lufthansa (from Munich), Luxair (Luxembourg), and LOT Polish Airlines (Warsaw Chopin). Further afield, Tehran sees seasonal flights from Rimini with Iran Air, while Italian carrier Neos flies to leisure-oriented destinations in the form of Egypt (Marsa Alam and Sharm El Sheikh) and Greece (Rhodes).
Previously, the Russian market was a fairly important part of Rimini Airport's operations. Indeed, the facility had direct links to the world's largest country by land area, thanks to Pobeda, Rossiya, SkyUp, and Ural Airlines. However, Russia's ongoing military action in Ukraine has prompted the suspension of these routes.
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As depicted above, the airport's signage has previously included San Marino in its name, to designate its status as a gateway to the small, landlocked nation. However, in terms of airfields within San Marino, there is just one.
The facility in question is Torraccia Airfield, which has a 625-meter-long grass runway and a helipad. However, no commercial flights serve Torraccia, which, instead, sees general aviation traffic through the Aeroclub San Marino.
What do you make of Rimini Airport? Have you ever flown there to visit San Marino? Let us know your thoughts and experiences in the comments!
Sources: Aviation Safety Network, Rimini Airport
Journalist – A graduate in German, Jake has a passion for aviation history, and enjoys sampling new carriers and aircraft even if doing so demands an unorthodox itinerary. A keen amateur photographer, he also recently reached the milestone of flying his 100th sector as a passenger. Based in Norwich, UK.
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