Milan Bergamo Airport

If you land in Bergamo, you usually land on a Boeing 737 – and most of the time with Ryanair. Orio al Serio Airport is the third in the Milan area, smaller than Malpensa, bigger than you think and, for spotters, above all one thing: a place where one low-cost jet follows the next on a single runway. Until early 2022, DHL’s freighters also arrived at night. Today Bergamo is the territory for everyone who collects registrations, wants to tell 737 variants apart and likes to see lots of movements in a short time.

From military airfield to Milan’s third airport

The airport’s roots are military. In 1937 an airfield for the Italian air force was built on the Serio river, and in World War II the German Luftwaffe also used it from 1943. After the war, Bergamo wanted to use the airfield for civilian traffic as well.

The breakthrough came in 1970 with the founding of the operating company SACBO. On March 21, 1972, the first civilian scheduled flight took off, an aircraft of the then Itavia to Rome-Ciampino. At the end of the 1980s, the Milan airport company SEA bought into SACBO. Since then Bergamo has been regarded as the third building block of the Milan airport system, alongside Malpensa and Linate.

The airport has carried its official secondary name since 2011: the aviation authority ENAC then approved “Il Caravaggio International Airport”, named after the Baroque painter Michelangelo Merisi, who took his artist name from the town of Caravaggio in the province of Bergamo. In everyday speech, almost everyone still says “Bergamo”, “Orio” or simply BGY.

The low-cost boom from 2002

Bergamo owes its leap from regional airport to Italy’s number three to two developments, both starting in the early 2000s: the rise of low-cost carriers and the expansion of express cargo. In summer 2002 a lucky coincidence added to this – Linate renovated its runway, and part of the traffic moved to Bergamo.

Ryanair in particular recognized the potential early. Bergamo is close enough to Milan to be sold as a Milan destination, but is cheaper and less congested than the two big airports. The model is the same as at the airline’s other secondary airports – such as Brussels-Charleroi or Paris-Beauvais: short turnaround times, low fees, a single aircraft type. How this business model works in detail is explained in the article How low-cost carriers work.

Today Bergamo is one of the biggest Ryanair bases in Europe, in the same league as Dublin and London Stansted. By far the largest share of flights is accounted for by the airline and its group sisters under the umbrella of Ryanair Holdings. Exactly how many aircraft are based in Bergamo fluctuates from season to season – on a normal day, in any case, you have no trouble seeing dozens of Ryanair departures.

What you see at the runway

The fleet is quickly told and still exciting when you look closer. Ryanair flies the Boeing 737-800 and the newer Boeing 737-8-200, which the airline markets as the “Gamechanger”. At first glance both look the same, but they differ in engines, tail cone and the additional pair of emergency exits behind the wings of the 737-8-200. With the article Telling Boeing 737 Original, Classic, NG and MAX apart you learn what to look for.

One detail makes Bergamo especially appealing to registration collectors: in the Ryanair group, numerous jets fly with Maltese 9H registrations for the group subsidiary Malta Air, others with Irish EI registrations. The livery is almost identical; only the registration on the fuselage reveals the operator. The basics are in the article Understanding aircraft registrations.

Apart from Ryanair, other airlines bring variety to the runway:

Which airlines are flying at any given time and with which types changes with every schedule. So take the table as a guide and check the departure and arrival boards before your visit.

DHL: the cargo chapter that ended in 2022

If you read older spotter reports about Bergamo, you keep coming across DHL. The airport really was an important hub of the express service in Italy for years. From the early 2000s, cargo grew along with passenger traffic; at night, freighters from the DHL network landed, including connections to the German hubs at Leipzig/Halle and Cologne/Bonn. For spotters that meant freighters you don’t otherwise get to see at a low-cost airport – often flown by partner airlines operating on behalf of DHL.

In March 2021, DHL Aviation announced it would move its hub from Bergamo to Milan Malpensa. In early 2022, DHL confirmed the end of all activities in Bergamo. Since then cargo at the airport has been a much smaller business: individual cargo flights and belly cargo in passenger jets. In 2025 cargo grew again, but at just over 24,500 tonnes it was at a modest level. How the big integrators organize their networks is covered in the article Express integrators DHL, FedEx and UPS.

An incident also belongs to the cargo history: on August 5, 2016, an ASL Airlines Hungary Boeing 737 overran the end of the runway on landing, broke through the fence and came to a stop on a road. Nobody was injured; several cars were damaged.

One runway, two directions

The layout is as clear as it can be for an airport this size. All scheduled traffic runs over runway 10/28, about 2.9 kilometers long, 45 meters wide and equipped with an instrument landing system. The terminal and cargo area lie south of the runway; north of it are a small military area and general aviation with the short secondary runway 12/30.

Because there is only one runway, everything depends on the runway direction in use. Aircraft take off and land into the wind. According to spotter reports, flying is predominantly on 28 – landings then come from the east, and takeoffs are to the west. With the right wind the picture flips to 10. What that means for your location is explained in the article Understanding runway direction at airports.

The runway was fundamentally renewed in 2014. From May 13 to June 2, 2014, the airport was completely closed for it, with traffic diverted to the region’s other airports. Besides the new surface, a new apron in the north and new taxiway connections were added at the time.

Spotting in Orio al Serio

Bergamo has no official visitors’ park like the one in Munich. Over the years, though, the spotting scene has opened up a handful of locations that keep appearing in spotter guides. The information there is not always current – paths, fences and parking rules change. Check the situation on site and follow signs and barriers.

Parking garage west of the terminal. From the top deck of the parking garage, which you find by following the signs to the rental cars, you look out over the apron and taxiways and see movements on runway 10. According to spotter reports, the light works from late morning into the evening. A medium telephoto is enough for most subjects. Nearby there are shops and restaurants, including the Oriocenter shopping mall on the other side of the motorway.

End of runway 28. The classic spot for takeoffs and landings in the main operating direction lies east of the terminal behind the cargo area. From the terminal it is about a 20-minute walk; by car you go over the motorway bridge. Here you see landings, takeoffs and taxiing aircraft; according to spotter reports, you need a small step for a clear view over the fence. Whether and how you may use a ladder at the fence is explained in the article Ladder, step and tripod at the airport fence.

Flying club on the north side. If you like light aircraft, drive around the west end of the runway to the flying club. The sun position makes shots of the main runway from there difficult, but for parked sport aircraft the detour is still worthwhile.

Terminal with a boarding pass. If you have a flight from Bergamo anyway, the window front in gate area A offers a view of the apron – through glass, but often usable.

Light and daily rhythm

Because the runway runs east-west and most locations are on the south side, you have the sun more behind you during the day. Spotter reports give the period from about 10 a.m. into the afternoon as usable for the parking garage and the end of runway 28, with backlight in high summer in the early morning and late evening. How to make a virtue of necessity is shown in the article on backlight photography.

Traffic follows the typical rhythm of a big low-cost base: early in the morning a wave of the jets based here departs, over the day aircraft come and go in dense succession, and in the evening the based aircraft return. Exactly when the peaks are depends on the current schedule – a look at the departure board or a flight tracker shows you the best hours of the day.

Spotter reports also mention additional traffic in September around the Formula 1 Grand Prix at nearby Monza. Whether and how strongly this is noticeable varies from year to year.

Rail link and expansion

For a long time, Bergamo could be reached only by bus and car. Since February 2024 a direct rail link to Bergamo central station has been under construction, with completion planned for the end of 2026. Until the line goes into operation, scheduled buses run from Bergamo station and several long-distance coach lines from Milan directly to the terminal; by car you reach the airport via the A4 motorway. Check before your trip whether the train is running yet.

The terminal has also been expanded in recent years, including the non-Schengen area between 2019 and 2021. With about 17 million passengers a year, the building is nevertheless well utilized – expect crowded halls on peak days.

Bergamo in comparison

Around Milan you can choose between three very different airports. Malpensa is the region’s long-haul and cargo airport, with widebodies from all over the world and the DHL hub. Linate is close to the city and geared toward domestic and European traffic. Bergamo complements both as the low-cost stronghold – if you work through all three on a long weekend, you get a fairly complete picture of northern Italian air traffic.

In a European comparison, Bergamo stands alongside other big Ryanair locations such as Dublin, London Stansted and Brussels-Charleroi. In Italy, further destinations are Bologna, Venice or Rome-Fiumicino. And if you miss the former DHL picture, you’ll find express cargo on a large scale today at Leipzig/Halle Airport.

Conclusion

Bergamo is not an airport for type hunters but for volume spotters and registration collectors. One main runway, one terminal and traffic made up largely of Ryanair Boeing 737s – that sounds monotonous, but it is exactly right if you want to fill your collection of registrations, learn to tell 737 generations apart reliably or simply experience lots of action. Low-cost carriers with Airbus fleets and occasional guests from the Middle East provide variety.

The big cargo era with DHL is over, and if you are looking for widebodies, you are better off in Malpensa. For half a day between the parking garage and the end of runway 28, though, Orio al Serio is well worth it – especially if you have checked the runway direction and the light beforehand.