Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport

FCO LIRF  Rome, Italy

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FCO at a glance

  • What it is: Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport is a major international airport serving Rome, Italy.
  • Codes: FCO on your ticket, LIRF on the radar.
  • How busy: the reference profile lists about 49.2 million annual passengers across 3 runways.
  • Right now: 7 aircraft are within 55 km, shown live on the map above.
  • Local time zone: Europe/Rome (UTC+2), so every time shown for FCO is local rather than UTC.

Aircraft observed near FCO

7 aircraft are within 55 km of FCO right now. This is live ADS-B traffic, not a published timetable: aircraft are classified by what they are physically doing - Climbing out, on approach, or holding at cruise overhead. For gate numbers and scheduled times, check with FCO directly or your airline.

Departing now

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
ETH713 Ethiopian Airlines route not published climbing out 6,975 ft 278 kts
ITY680 — route not published climbing out 10,625 ft 337 kts

Arriving now

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
TVF97AM — route not published on approach -50 ft 134 kts
RYR21GU Ryanair route not published on approach 750 ft 162 kts
I2331 — route not published on approach 75 ft 136 kts
WMT6969 — route not published on approach 11,950 ft 389 kts

Overhead and in the area

FlightOperatorRouteStatusAltitudeSpeed
LAV2135 — route not published in the area 36,025 ft 440 kts
49.2M
Annual passengers (reference)
3
Runways
2
Terminals
13 ft
Field elevation

About FCO

Italy's largest airport and the hub of ITA Airways, successor to Alitalia. It has won repeated awards in recent years as Europe's best large airport for passenger experience. The airport anchors Rome's tourism economy with a broad long-haul network.

Rome Fiumicino, officially Leonardo da Vinci International Airport, opened in January 1961. It had been intended to serve the 1960 Rome Olympics but was completed only after the Games ended, taking over intercontinental traffic from the smaller Ciampino airport closer to the city.

Construction on the coastal plain near the ancient Roman harbor of Portus yielded a remarkable surprise: the remains of several Roman ships were unearthed and are now displayed in a dedicated museum beside the airport. For decades Fiumicino served as the home base of Alitalia and Italy's principal intercontinental gateway.

The airport added runways and terminals through the 1970s and 1980s as Italian air travel boomed. Operator Aeroporti di Roma launched a sweeping modernization in the 2010s, including the new boarding Pier A opened in 2022.

After Alitalia's collapse in 2021, successor ITA Airways made Fiumicino its hub. The investment paid off in reputation: Fiumicino has repeatedly been named Europe's best major airport by ACI Europe and in 2022 became the first airport in Europe to earn a five-star rating from Skytrax, a striking turnaround for a facility once notorious for congestion.

How FCO operates today

Fiumicino operates three runways, two parallel north-south strips and a crosswind runway, on flat coastal land 30 kilometers southwest of central Rome. Terminal 1 hosts ITA Airways and most Schengen traffic, while Terminal 3 handles the bulk of international and intercontinental flights.

The airport is ITA's hub and a major base for Ryanair, Vueling and Wizz Air, blending legacy long-haul with dense low-cost traffic. The Leonardo Express rail link feeds passengers nonstop to Roma Termini. Summer peaks are intense, as Rome ranks among the world's most visited cities, with US routes especially prominent.

Top routes from FCO

DestinationMain airlinesWhy it matters
Milan (LIN) ITA Airways The Rome-Milan shuttle is Italy's classic business air bridge, competing with high-speed rail.
Catania (CTA) ITA Airways, Ryanair, Wizz Air The link to Sicily's biggest city is one of Italy's highest-volume domestic routes.
Madrid (MAD) ITA Airways, Iberia, Ryanair A dense southern-European trunk route contested by legacy and low-cost carriers alike.
Paris (CDG) ITA Airways, Air France, Vueling Rome-Paris is one of Europe's great capital-to-capital city pairs.
New York (JFK) ITA Airways, Delta Air Lines The flagship transatlantic route, swollen every summer by American tourism to Rome.

Facts about FCO

  • In 2022 Fiumicino became the first airport in Europe to receive a five-star rating from Skytrax.
  • Remains of ancient Roman ships were discovered during the airport's construction and are displayed in a museum next to the airfield.
  • It was built for the 1960 Rome Olympics but opened months after the Games had finished.
  • A large bronze statue of Leonardo da Vinci, the airport's namesake, greets travelers outside the terminals.

Plane spotting at FCO

Spotters gather along the coastal roads and dunes near Focene, west of the field, for arrivals to runway 16R, with ITA's blue Airbus fleet and heavy summer transatlantic traffic as the main draw. New to spotting? Start with our aircraft identification guide and the world's best spotting airports.

IATA / ICAO
FCO / LIRF
Location
Rome, Italy 41.800, 12.239
Time zone
Europe/Rome
Opened
1961
Hub for
ITA Airways
Website
www.adr.it

Nearby and related airports

Geographically close airports and useful alternatives in Italy.

PMO Falcone Borsellino Airport Palermo, Italy NCE Nice Cote d'Azur Airport Nice, France BGY Milan Bergamo Airport Bergamo, Italy MXP Milan Malpensa Airport Milan, Italy

More airports and guides connected to FCO

How a field like this runs day to day is covered in how airports work. Nearby, Palermo (PMO) serves the same country. The codes FCO and LIRF are explained in airport codes decoded.

Data sources and review

Reviewed 2026-07-29 by Flight-Tracker.net Editorial Team

Passenger, runway, terminal and hub figures are maintained as a reviewed reference snapshot, not a live operational record. Check the airport directly before travelling.

Read our airport data sourcing and review process, or inspect the machine-readable reference dataset.

Frequently asked questions about FCO

What is the airport code for Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport?

Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport uses the IATA code FCO on tickets and baggage tags, and the ICAO code LIRF in flight plans and on radar. The leading “L” in LIRF is the region marker: ICAO codes are grouped geographically, which is why airports near each other usually share their first letter or two while their IATA codes look unrelated.

How many runways does FCO have?

Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport operates 3 runways across 2 passenger terminals. The field sits at 13 ft above sea level.

How busy is FCO?

This reference profile lists roughly 49.2 million annual passengers for Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport. You can see aircraft observed departing, arriving and overhead on this page, taken from live ADS-B broadcasts.

What time zone is FCO in?

Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport operates on Europe/Rome local time. Scheduled departure and arrival times for this airport are always published in local time, not UTC.

How many terminals does FCO have?

This reference lists Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport with 2 passenger terminals. Check the airport or operating airline for the terminal assigned to a specific flight.

Can I track flights at FCO live?

Yes. The map on this page shows every aircraft broadcasting its position within about 55 km of Leonardo da Vinci - Fiumicino Airport, and there are 7 in range as this page loaded. The boards split them into departures, arrivals and traffic passing overhead, all timed in Europe/Rome.