Salerno-Costa d’Amalfi airport to welcome first holidaymakers in July.

Tourists will soon be able to reach Italy’s stunning Amalfi Coast by plane with the opening of the nearby revamped airport to commercial flights this summer.

The Salerno-Costa d’Amalfi airport, located about 45 km from the town of Amalfi, is currently undergoing major renovation and expansion works.

Spanish low-cost carrier Volotea was the first to announce new routes to and from the Salerno airport this summer: Cagliari and Nantes, operational from July, along with Catania and Verona, available from September.

Budget airlines Ryanair and easyJet are also said to be interested in adding Salerno to their list of travel destinations.

Currently most tourists travelling to Amalfi fly into Capodichino Interanational Airport in Naples – which welcomed more than 12 million passengers last year – before taking public transport to the popular coastline famed for its colourful fishing villages and beaches, terraced vineyards and cliffside lemon groves.

Built in 1926, the Salerno – Costa d’Amalfi airport was long used exclusively as a military air base, flying school, firefighting centre and private flights before functioning briefly as a commercial hub, in a very limited way, about a decade ago.

This July the airport will open permanently to commerical flights and 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.

The 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 – with Italy’s Campania region also reportedly pumping millions into boosting transport links to the airport.