Located around 32 miles (51km) from central Milan, Milan Bergamo is best known as a significant Ryanair base – its third-busiest airport this month, behind only London Stansted and Dublin. But Bergamo, serving the wider Milan and the populous Lombardy region, is more than this.

According to OAG, it is now Europe's 49th-busiest airport, positioned by flights between Budapest and Birmingham. It is fast-growing and has already exceeded pre-pandemic capacity. And now, Air Arabia will link it nonstop to the UAE, the first time the Italian airport has had service to the country.

What's happening?

Beginning on December 7th, Air Arabia will launch Sharjah – close to Dubai – to Bergamo. At 2,887 miles (4,646km), it's just shy of the 3,000 miles (4,828km) often considered a long-haul route. Running 4x weekly, it'll use the 215-seat A321LR on what will be a 7 hour block time to Italy. The schedule is as follows, with all times local:

  • Sharjah to Bergamo: G9710, 06:45-10:45 (Wed/Sun); G9712, 21:55-01:55+1 (Mon, Thu)
  • Bergamo to Sharjah: G9711, 11:45-21:00 (Wed/Sun); G9713, 02:55-12:10 (Tue, Fri)

It'll be the Milan area's third UAE route, joining Emirates from Dubai to Milan Malpensa (2x daily A380, 1x continuing to New York JFK) and Etihad from Abu Dhabi to Malpensa (1x daily B787-9).

Adel Al Ali, Air Arabia's Group CEO, commented as follows. And it's true: many destinations in the broader Middle East, South Asia, and beyond are bookable to/from Bergamo over Sharjah.

Milan [Bergamo] is the latest addition to our growing network from Sharjah. It provides our customer base in the UAE and beyond with the opportunity to travel to Italy with our renowned value-driven product.

Air Arabia A321LR
(A321LR.)
Photo: Air Arabia.

Milan Bergamo offers a unique connection service powered by Kiwi.com. Bergamolynk, as it is known, allows passengers to self-connect through the terminal onto different carriers, with protection guarantees for delays and cancelations by either airline. This has helped Bergamo to grow into one of Europe's biggest LCC/ULCC airports and offers additional destination opportunities for Air Arabia passengers.

Stay aware: Sign up for my weekly new routes newsletter.

Bergamo's longest route

Considering nonstop flights planned this December, Sharjah will comfortably be Bergamo's longest route. It'll be some 5% longer in distance than Sal, Cape Verde, served on Fridays by operator Albastar using B737-800s. The top 10 longest are:

  1. Sharjah: 2,887 miles (4,646km)
  2. Sal: 2,741 miles (4,412km)
  3. Dakar: 2,644 miles (4,255km)
  4. Marsa Alam: 1,955 miles (3,147km)
  5. La Palma: 1,902 miles (3,061km)
  6. Tenerife South: 1,881 miles (3,028km)
  7. Gran Canaria: 1,838 miles (2,959km)
  8. Sharm El Sheikh: 1,820 miles (2,929km)
  9. Aqaba: 1,763 miles (2,837km)
  10. Fuerteventura: 1,750 miles (2,817km)
Milan Bergamo's 10 longest routes in December 2022
Milan Bergamo's 10 longest routes in December 2022, when Sharjah begins. Image: GCMap.

Discover more aviation news

Its 4th Bergamo route

The Air Arabia Group comprises multiple airlines or units: the original Sharjah-based carrier, Air Arabia Abu Dhabi, Fly Arna (Armenia), Air Arabia Egypt, Air Arabia Maroc, and Fly Jinnah (Pakistan, which hasn't taken off yet).

Currently, the Group has three Bergamo routes, summarized below. Notice Casablanca, which, despite presently having 10x weekly flights during the peak season, has up to 3x daily services. For example, on August 23rd and 30th and September 6th, 13th, and 20th, flights leave for Morocco's largest city at the ungodly times of 01:55 and 03:35, and, more usually, 13:55.

  1. Alexandria: 2x weekly by Air Arabia Egypt, ending for winter on October 26th; uses the A320
  2. Cairo: 5x weekly by Air Arabia Egypt; A320
  3. Casablanca: 10x weekly by Air Arabia Maroc, reducing to 5x weekly this winter; A320

What do you make of the announcement? What other routes would you like Bergamo to have? Share your thoughts in the comments.