Salerno-Costa d'Amalfi airport opens this summer.

Italy's stunning Amalfi Coast, famed for its colourful fishing villages and lemon groves, opens up to commercial flights from a nearby airport this summer.

The Salerno-Costa d'Amalfi airport, located south of Salerno and about 45 km from the town of Amalfi, is currently undergoing major expansion works and will be inaugurated on 11 July.

Built in 1926 as a military base, the airport is expected to be fully operational by 2026/2027 on completion of a new passenger terminal and the extension of its runway up to 2,200 metres.

In the meantime it will open on a limited basis to commercial flights within Italy as well as from Basel, Berlin, Geneva, London, Malta and Nantes.

• An in-depth travel guide to visiting the Amalfi Coast

Currently most international tourists travelling to Amalfi fly into Capodichino Airport in Naples, or Rome Fiumicino, before taking trains and buses to the popular coastline.

Which airlines will fly into Salerno Costa d’Amalfi Airport?

Volotea will offer flights from Salerno Costa d’Amalfi Airport (QSR) this July, from Nantes and Cagliari, before adding Verona and Catania in September.

EasyJet will offer flights from Basel, Berlin, Geneva, London Gatwick and Milan Malpensa, with Maltese airline Universal Air to launch flights between Malta and Salerno Costa d'Amalfi.

Ryanair recently announced that from August it will operate flights to Salerno Costa d’Amalfi from London Stansted, Milan Bergamo and Turin, with the last two destinations remaining operational in the winter season.

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Until now the Salerno-Costa d'Amalfi airport has been used as a military air base, flying school, firefighting centre and for private flights before functioning briefly as a commercial hub, in a very limited way, about a decade ago.

The current programme of works began in 2019 and is being overseen by Gesac, the airport management company of both Salerno and Capodichino Interanational Airport in Naples.

The ambitious €257 million expansion project is set to conclude fully in 2043, by which time Gesac expects to welcome six million travellers a year to the airport.