2025 will be remembered as the turning point year for Cristoforo Colombo Airport. And 2026, with a summer built on 12 Ryanair routes, new Aeroitalia connections and a dedicated charter for Costa cruises, seems determined to confirm the trend. For those who own property in Genoa — particularly in the western part of the city — the question is no longer whether the airport matters for local tourism, but how much and in what way.
An airport growing faster than expected
The figures released in January 2026 speak clearly. Genoa’s Cristoforo Colombo Airport closed 2025 with 1,577,159 passengers handled (+18.1% compared to 2024), the best result in the history of the Genoese airport. A figure that is not only an absolute record, but arrives a year ahead of schedule: the overall 2025 results are the fruit of structural growth that brought Genoa’s airport to surpass, more than a year ahead of the industrial plan, the previous passenger record reached in 2019.
Daderot, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Growth is driven mainly by the international component. The growth in international passenger traffic at the Liguria capital’s airport has continued uninterrupted for 21 months (in 2025, over 769,000 passengers handled, +41.2% compared to 2024). Domestic traffic, on the other hand, remains essentially flat: 2025 domestic traffic was over 775,000 passengers handled, -0.2% compared to 2024. This is an important signal for those working in hospitality: growth is not coming from Genoese returning from a weekend in Rome, but from those landing from London, Munich or Tirana to stay in the city.
“Achieving the historic traffic record a year ahead of the industrial plan.”
— Enrico Musso, president of Genoa Airport
The economic picture, however, remains two-speed. Growing costs money, and marketing costs to support traffic, together with the commissioning of the new east wing of the terminal, have impacted the airport’s accounts. The Genoese airport, however, is not an isolated case: in 2025 passenger traffic at Italian airports exceeded 229 million, up 5% compared to 2024, according to data released by ENAC; among small and medium-sized airports, Genoa is consistently among those with the most impressive growth of the year, along with realities like Trieste and Bari.
The first quarter of 2026 confirms this is not a flash in the pan: in the first three months of the year the airport continued its growth trajectory, with months in progressive acceleration. Again in this period, international traffic drove the expansion, supported by the launch of new Volotea routes to Madrid, Wizz Air to Krakow and Warsaw, Aeroitalia to Rome and the strengthening of connections to Naples and Paris Orly.
Summer 2026: new routes and the low-cost gamble
The real dimensional leap, however, concerns the summer 2026 season, with increased seat availability and new routes: this is how Genoa’s Cristoforo Colombo Airport is preparing for the new summer season. Numbers that, if confirmed in final accounts, would put Cristoforo Colombo on a trajectory never seen before.
Alessio Sbarbaro, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Ryanair is the carrier betting most on Genoa. The airline has launched its summer operations from Genoa airport with 12 routes to Bari, Brindisi, Brussels, Bucharest, Cagliari, Catania, Lamezia Terme, London, Manchester, Naples, Palermo, plus a new summer route to Tirana. This is not an isolated case: the Aeroitalia base inaugurated at the beginning of the year has opened two new Italian tourist destinations, with Genoa-Salerno and Genoa-Alghero, as well as strengthening the connection to Olbia.
Curious and indicative of the link between the airport and cruise tourism is the Austrian Airlines novelty: the summer season 2026 will see the introduction of a new inbound charter service operated by Austrian Airlines exclusively for Costa cruise guests, connecting Vienna to Genoa for the entire summer season. It’s a signal that Genoa airport is no longer working solely for “pure” leisure tourism, but is becoming a functional hub for the cruise industry at the port.
On the infrastructure front, airport management confirms that investments are continuing: the terminal extension has already increased the airport’s capacity and added new gates, while the GOA is completing a restyling program to make connections with cruise terminals more fluid.
What it means for Sestri Ponente and Pegli
The airport is not an infrastructure isolated from the urban fabric: it is physically located within an inhabited neighborhood. Sestri Ponente is home to Genoa Cristoforo Colombo Airport, a neighborhood that is one of the most populated in Genoa, situated between Cornigliano and Pegli, a real town where you can find all types of services including shops, restaurants, the airport itself, shipyards and a tourist harbor. Historically it is a neighborhood with an industrial and working-class vocation — another source of local employment is the shipyards, part of Fincantieri — but the growth in airport flows is slowly changing the cards in play even for those evaluating short-term rentals in this area.
Bbruno, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
To be honest, there are not yet any official public statistical series specifically on short-term rental prices and occupancy rates at the neighborhood level, such as Sestri Ponente or Pegli: official regional data is aggregated at the provincial level. What can be observed qualitatively, however, is significant: announcements for renovated and furnished apartments in the pedestrian area of via Sestri, the historic commercial artery of the neighborhood, are in constant increase, and the local Airbnb supply itself indicates properties positioned explicitly as convenient for those arriving or departing from the airport. There is a structural advantage, and it’s geographical: the airport is only a few minutes away from Genoa’s historic center, and those renting in Sestri Ponente or Pegli can reach both the tourist in transit for one night before a morning flight, and those who prefer to stay outside the center while remaining well connected.
The mobility factor: Volabus and Airlink
Physical distance from the center is not an insurmountable obstacle thanks to public connections. Genoa airport is built on an artificial peninsula in the Sestri Ponente neighborhood, just 7 km away from the city’s historic center, and the fastest and most direct way to reach it is the Volabus, the shuttle bus that takes about 30 minutes, while the most economical option is Genova Airlink combined with the regional train. For those managing a short-term rental, this means being able to communicate with certainty to guests about transfer times and multiple mobility options—a detail that weighs more in reviews than one might think. For updated schedules and fares, our guide to airport connections contains all practical information.
The short-term rental market in the regional context
If the airport brings more people to Liguria, is the short-term rental market ready to absorb them? The figures for the regional sector suggest an industry still in a phase of structured expansion. According to an analysis presented at a Fiaip conference in February 2026, the short-term rental market in Liguria in 2025 continued to grow in value and in its impact on regional tourism. A figure that must be read alongside a change in tourist behavior: the length of stay has increased, and homes rented through short-term leasing show occupancy rates higher than the average seasonal rate of the traditional hospitality sector.
On the supply side, the regional picture remains broad: in Liguria today, furnished apartments for tourist use registered on the regional portal are a consistent number, with extensive overall bed availability. A huge accommodation base, which makes the airport’s ability to bring additional demand all the more relevant rather than simply redistributing existing demand.
Aggregate data on tourist arrivals confirm that Liguria, as a whole, is experiencing an expansive phase, with significant growth in arrivals compared to 2024. At the provincial level, Genoa performed better than average in some key months of summer 2025, with growth in arrivals exceeding that recorded in the same period by Imperia and La Spezia.
Practical implications for property owners
What do property owners considering renting out a property in Genoa concretely gain? The first element is confirmation of a trend, not an isolated episode: the growth in international air traffic has continued for almost two consecutive years and is being structured on an industrial level with medium-term objectives, not just a single lucky season. The second element is route diversification: Ryanair, Aeroitalia, Wizz Air and Volotea together are expanding the source basin of visitors well beyond historic markets, opening the door to new segments—from Eastern European tourists connected by Wizz Air and Ryanair via Tirana, to Spanish flows via Madrid with Volotea.
For those who own a property in the historic center or in the most touristic areas, the effect is a natural extension of the season, also supported by cruise traffic linked to the new Austrian Airlines charter. For those who instead consider a more peripheral property, such as in Sestri Ponente or Pegli, the reasoning changes slightly: here the competitive advantage is not proximity to monuments, but physical proximity to the airport, useful especially for short stays related to morning or evening flights, for crews, and for those working in airport and port-related industries. These are different segments, with different needs—less interest in “Instagram-worthy” furnishings, more for check-in reliability and punctuality of cleaning between guests.
Those who manage more than one property today, or are considering adding one to their portfolio, would do well to monitor the 2026 new routes calendar carefully and evaluate their offering based on their location: our portfolio of our residences in the heart of Genoa, for example, is designed primarily for the leisure tourist attracted to the historic center, a segment that is different but complementary to what might interest someone who owns a home near the airport. In both cases, growth in airport flows remains a measurable fact, not a promise: the task of those managing the property is to understand how to intercept it in the way most consistent with their area and their type of guest.
Analysis based on public data and sources. genovabb.it is not a newspaper. The data reported have been collected from sources believed to be reliable but their accuracy is not guaranteed.
