December 2, 1961
An airport in northeastern Italy’s region of Friuli Venezia Giulia officially began commercial operations. This airport is specifically located about 19 miles (30 kilometers) northwest of Trieste, the capital city of Friuli Venezia Giulia. As far back as 1935, that aviation facility had been used as a base for the country’s air force. In 1956, however, Italy’s Ministry of Defense relinquished ownership of the airport so that it could be used instead for commercial purposes.
The first commercial flight out of Trieste Airport on December 2, 1961, was a Douglas DC-3 plane operated by the cargo-and-passenger airline Società Aerea Mediterranea (SAM) and headed for Rome. (SAM had been founded in 1928 and would remain in service until 1981.)
Trieste Airport is the major commercial airport for Friuli Venezia Giulia, and it is also extensively used by those traveling to and and from Italy’s neighboring countries of Austria, Croatia, and Slovenia. The airport’s ground transportation linkages include a station of the Venice-Trieste railway. This station was opened in 2018.
The 50th anniversary of Trieste Airport’s commercial flights was highlighted by Sergio Dressi, who served as president of the airport from 2009 to 2015. In a press release that was issued on December 2, 2011, Dressi commended all of those individuals who helped strengthen and sustain the airport throughout the years. “I am very proud of this achievement,” he proclaimed.
Photo Credit: Andrzej Otrebski (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en)
For more information on Trieste Airport, please check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trieste_%E2%80%93_Friuli_Venezia_Giulia_Airport
Transportation History 
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