Rome Fiumicino Airport is targeting new routes to more than 10 destinations across Asia, Africa and South America as it seeks to strengthen its position as a major southern European hub.
Federico Scriboni, Aeroporti di Roma’s director of aviation business development, identified Manila, Osaka, Jakarta and Colombo as priority markets in Asia. In South America, the airport is targeting Lima, Caracas, Santiago and Bogotá, while Johannesburg and Lagos are among the African markets under consideration.
The destinations are route-development targets rather than confirmed new services. The airport has not announced launch dates or named airlines for these potential connections. Scriboni said the focus was on markets where Fiumicino could demonstrate sufficient commercial demand and long-term sustainability.
The plans follow a year of network growth. Fiumicino added more than 40 routes and 15 destinations in 2026 and expects long-haul passenger numbers to reach 11 million this year. According to OAG figures cited by Aviation Week, airlines offered approximately 20.36 million departure seats from the airport during the 2026 summer season, up 3.8% year on year. The number of destinations increased from 242 to 251.
Recent expansion has included Alaska Airlines’ entry into Europe with flights from Seattle and ITA Airways’ launch of the first direct connection between Italy and Houston. ITA is also scheduled to add Santo Domingo during the winter season and Caracas in summer 2027.
Aeroporti di Roma is supporting the growth strategy with a planned €9 billion development programme. The programme includes a new passenger terminal and a fourth runway, with the aim of increasing Fiumicino’s annual capacity to approximately 100 million passengers by 2046. The airport operator intends to finance the programme without public funding.
