Are There Two Airports In Palermo, Sicily?

Palermo, the coastal capital of Sicily on the Tyrrhenian Sea, has one airport of its own: Falcone Borsellino (PMO), the airport every traveller arriving by air into the city actually lands at. A second airport does exist in the region, Trapani Birgi (TPS), which serves western Sicily and sometimes appears in searches and fare comparisons for Palermo. The short answer is that the city has one airport, the region effectively has two, and which one you use changes your transfer time, your flight options and sometimes your whole arrival day. This page, from the Palermo Italy Travel Guide editorial desk, sets out what each airport is, how they differ, and how to choose between them.

Are There Two Airports In Palermo, Sicily?

Palermo has one airport, Falcone Borsellino (PMO), which sits at Punta Raisi on the coast west of the city and serves Palermo directly. A second airport, Trapani Birgi (TPS), also serves western Sicily and is sometimes listed in searches alongside Palermo, but it belongs to Trapani province, roughly an hour and a half further west by road. So the honest answer is one airport in Palermo itself and a second, regional airport that some travellers use to reach the same corner of Sicily.

The naming causes real confusion. Flight search engines sometimes group both airports under a "Palermo area" or "western Sicily" label, and a cheap fare that looks too good for a Sicilian route often turns out to land at Birgi rather than at Falcone Borsellino. Always check the three-letter code on your ticket before booking ground transport: PMO is Palermo's own airport, TPS is Trapani Birgi. Confusing the two can add hours to an arrival day.

Falcone Borsellino is the second-busiest airport in Sicily after Catania Fontanarossa (CTA) on the east coast. Reported figures for 2024 put its passenger traffic at about 8.9 million, and the airport has grown steadily as more international routes have been added. Trapani Birgi, by contrast, is a smaller operation with a strongly seasonal, low-cost-oriented schedule, and its flight list changes from winter to summer far more than Palermo's does.

Neither airport is "the other Palermo airport" in any official sense. Birgi markets itself to the Trapani side of the island: Erice, Segesta, the salt pans at Nubia, San Vito Lo Capo and the Egadi islands. If those places are the core of your trip, Birgi can genuinely be the better gateway, and the day trips west of Palermo are covered in detail on the Trapani and the salt pans guide.

What Is Falcone Borsellino Airport And How Far Is It From Palermo?

Falcone Borsellino (PMO) is Palermo's airport, located at Punta Raisi on the north-west coast, connected to the city by a toll-free motorway, a dedicated airport railway line and a round-the-clock coach service. The operator's own guidance is to arrive at least 2 hours before Schengen flights and 3 hours before non-Schengen flights. It handles domestic flights, Schengen routes, seasonal long-haul and a growing summer schedule.

As an operational matter, PMO is a compact single-terminal airport: distances inside are short, and the walk from security to the gates is measured in minutes rather than in the long treks familiar from larger hubs. That compactness is why the arrival guidance of 2 hours for Schengen and 3 hours for non-Schengen departures, published by the airport operator GESAP, is enough even in the August peak.

Getting from the airport into Palermo comes down to three practical options, each with published figures. The Prestia e Comande airport bus costs EUR 6 one way bought online or in advance (EUR 6.50 on board, EUR 10 return online, EUR 11 on board), runs every 30 minutes, takes about 50 minutes to Stazione Centrale, and the airport service runs roughly from 05:05 to 01:05 in the direction of the city. Children from 3 to 12 pay EUR 4 one way. The bus calls at Politeama, Via Roma and the Centrale station area, which covers the majority of accommodation districts. The operator has also announced a direct Mondello to airport link starting from 31 October 2026, a genuinely new option for beach-stay travellers.

To sort your airport transfer before you land, book an airport bus ticket here.

The second option is the train. A regional service on the airport line runs between the airport station and Palermo Centrale in about an hour; the fare is shown on the Trenitalia ticket page. The third is the regulated white taxi, whose airport fares are set by fixed zones; those figures belong to the dedicated transfer page, which also covers the question of whether Palermo airport has a train station and the fuller route from Palermo airport to town.

What Is Trapani Birgi Airport And When Does It Make Sense?

Trapani Birgi (TPS) is the second airport serving western Sicily, located in Trapani province well to the west of Palermo, and it is a real alternative only when your itinerary centres on Trapani, Erice, Segesta or San Vito Lo Capo rather than on Palermo itself. Its schedule is dominated by low-cost and seasonal routes, so the flight list changes through the year. For a Palermo-centred trip it normally adds transfer time rather than saving it.

Birgi's strength is price and proximity to the western sights. Erice, reached by a cable car from Trapani at a published fare of EUR 9 one way or EUR 15 return, the Segesta archaeological park at EUR 14 full and EUR 7 reduced, and the salt pans museum at Nubia, which is free, all sit closer to Birgi than to Palermo. If those are the anchor of your trip, landing at TPS can work in your favour and remove the westward drive entirely.

The trade-off is the schedule. Birgi's route network is thinner in winter and its destinations shift with the seasons, so a fare that exists in July may not exist in November. Falcone Borsellino, by contrast, keeps a year-round core of domestic and Schengen flights alongside its seasonal additions, including the seasonal United nonstop from Newark that has been extended to 17 December 2026, the only confirmed US nonstop, a point covered in full on the page about flying direct to Palermo from the USA.

A practical rule of thumb: book Birgi when the first three nights of the trip are west of Palermo, and book PMO when Palermo, Cefalu or the northern coast comes first. If your plans include both ends of western Sicily, the comparison of flying into Palermo or Catania adds the east-coast option to the same decision.

Which Airport Should You Book For A Palermo Trip?

For a trip based in Palermo, book Falcone Borsellino (PMO): it is the city's own airport, about an hour from the centre by bus or train, with the year-round domestic and Schengen schedule the city depends on. Trapani Birgi only wins when the western sights come first and the fare gap is large enough to pay back the extra transfer. Mid-trip arrivals with early starts favour PMO because the airport bus runs from early morning to past midnight.

The decision rarely comes down to airports alone. It comes down to what the first day of the trip looks like. A PMO arrival slots neatly into a city itinerary: the bus lands you at Politeama or Centrale within about an hour, and the old centre, the markets and the question of how many days a Palermo trip needs can begin the same afternoon. A Birgi arrival effectively commits day one to the west, which is either a plan or a detour depending on what you intended.

Price is where Birgi earns its place in searches. Low-cost carriers have historically used it as a Sicilian base, and fares from northern Europe can undercut PMO noticeably on the same dates. But a fare saving has to be weighed against the extra ground cost and time of reaching Palermo, since Birgi sits on the far side of Trapani. When the sums are equal, PMO wins on every practical measure: transfer frequency, year-round schedule and proximity to the city's accommodation districts.

There is a third consideration that travellers often miss: departure day. PMO's guidance of 2 hours before a Schengen flight and 3 hours before a non-Schengen flight is realistic for a compact terminal, but it still means leaving Palermo centre roughly three to four hours before a non-Schengen departure. An evening Birgi departure from the far west can strand you with a long cross-region journey at exactly the wrong time of day, so check the departure time, not only the price.

How Do Entry Rules Affect Arrivals At Either Airport?

Both airports are Italian and Schengen airports, so the same entry rules apply at PMO and TPS, and the current state of those rules matters more than the choice between them. The EU's Entry Exit System (EES) has been fully operational since 10 April 2026, recording fingerprints and facial images for non-EU short-stay travellers instead of passport stamps, while ETIAS, the travel authorisation for visa-exempt visitors, is not yet live and has no confirmed start date.

In practice this means two things at the border. First, non-EU arrivals at either airport should expect biometric capture at first entry, a process that adds a short step at the booth but replaces the passport stamp entirely, so the old souvenir stamps are gone. Second, no ETIAS application is currently being collected, so visa-exempt travellers, including US, UK and Canadian citizens, do not need to buy an authorisation while the system remains unlaunched. Watch the official EU pages rather than third-party sites selling unnecessary "ETIAS registrations".

Italy's emergency number is 112, the euro is the currency, and tap water in Palermo is suitable for drinking according to AMAP, the municipal water company, all of which hold equally whichever airport you land at. The standard urban precautions noted in official advisories, petty crime such as pickpocketing around tourist sites and on public transport, apply to the city rather than to either airport, and the practical side of that is covered on the page about whether Palermo is safe to travel to right now.

Can You Use Both Airports On One Trip?

Yes, open-jaw itineraries into PMO and out of TPS (or the reverse) work well when a trip crosses western Sicily, since the two airports sit on the same coast road corridor and the motorways serving them, the A29 and its branches, are toll-free. The main constraint is flight availability: Birgi's seasonal schedule may not serve your home route on the day you need, so the airports should be chosen after the flights, not before.

A classic shape is to fly into PMO, spend the first stretch in Palermo with the Palatine Chapel and the markets, swing west through Segesta and Erice, and fly home from Birgi. The toll-free motorway network makes the drive straightforward, and car hire desks sit inside the arrivals hall at PMO with vehicles in the adjacent lots; non-EU licence holders generally need an International Driving Permit alongside their home licence, a point to settle before pickup.

Travellers without a car can still cross between the two airport catchments using the regional coach network that links Palermo and Trapani, with Segesta Autolinee and FlixBus among the operators on the corridor; current timetables and fares sit on the operators' own pages. Allow the better part of a day for the transfer with luggage in tow. If that sounds like a lost day, the simpler plan is to base in Palermo for the whole trip and take the western sights, Segesta at EUR 14 full and EUR 7 reduced, Erice's cable car at EUR 9 one way, as organised excursions instead, which is exactly what the Trapani and the salt pans and Segesta pages cover.

For anyone weighing the wider Sicily question, east-coast Catania (CTA) is the island's busiest airport and a third candidate altogether, treated fully in the Palermo versus Catania comparison.

Common Questions About Palermo's Airports

Are there two airports in Palermo, Sicily?

Palermo has one airport, Falcone Borsellino (PMO). A second airport, Trapani Birgi (TPS), serves western Sicily from Trapani province and appears in regional flight searches, but it is not in Palermo and is best treated as an alternative gateway to the west of the island.

Which airport code is Palermo?

PMO is Falcone Borsellino, Palermo's own airport at Punta Raisi. TPS is Trapani Birgi. Always check the three-letter code on the ticket before booking ground transport, because the two are over an hour apart by road in different directions along the coast.

Is Trapani Birgi closer to Palermo than Catania airport?

Yes. Birgi sits west of Palermo in Trapani province, while Catania Fontanarossa is on Sicily's east coast, roughly a three-hour drive or train journey from Palermo. Neither is a Palermo airport, but Birgi is on the same western side of the island as the city.

How early should I arrive at Falcone Borsellino for a flight?

The airport operator's guidance is at least 2 hours before Schengen flights and 3 hours before non-Schengen flights, present at security. PMO is a compact terminal, and those windows hold even in the busy summer months.

Does the airport bus to Palermo run at night?

The Prestia e Comande service from the airport towards the city runs about every 30 minutes, with the airport departures running roughly from 05:05 to 01:05, so late-evening arrivals are covered. The return direction from the city to the airport runs from about 03:30 to 21:30.

Can I fly to Palermo nonstop from the United States?

United flies nonstop from Newark to Palermo on a seasonal basis, and the service has been extended to 17 December 2026. No other US nonstop is confirmed, so all other US itineraries connect through a European hub.

Whichever airport the flights choose for you, the practical difference on the ground is measured in transfer time: PMO puts you about an hour from Palermo Centrale by bus or train, while Birgi makes the west of Sicily your first destination. Choose the airport to match the first night of the trip, and the rest of western Sicily, from the markets of Ballarò to the temples of Segesta, arranges itself around that single decision.