Aosta: forty minutes from Courmayeur, and it has no ILS
It is the closest airport to a ski resort in our whole network. And it is also the one you cannot use in the evening, with a low cloud base, or with a large aircraft.
By car
By car
By car
Transfer times and distances as published by the airports, the operators and the tourist boards. Where a figure is missing, no public source publishes it.
The resorts this airport serves
| Resort | ICAO | km | By car | By helicopter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Courmayeur | — | 41 | 35′ | — |
| Cervinia | — | 50 | 55′ | — |
| La Thuile | — | 50 | 45′ | — |
A dash means no public source publishes that figure. We write the dash instead of estimating it.
What constrains the flight Operating notes written in Italian
- AOSTA NON HA L'ILS. Wikipedia e alcuni database commerciali riportano un dato storico: la pubblicazione aeronautica in vigore indica nessuna procedura di avvicinamento strumentale.
- Si opera SOLO A VISTA e SOLO CON LA LUCE DEL GIORNO, con un margine di mezz'ora. Operazioni in bassa visibilita' non consentite.
- Il servizio e' informazioni di volo, non una torre di controllo. Spazio aereo non controllato con radio obbligatoria.
- Antincendio in seconda categoria, elevabile su richiesta. Il passaggio alla quinta e' legato al completamento del nuovo terminal, atteso per l'autunno 2026.
- Dogana disponibile su preavviso di tre ore, da chiedere al gestore.
- La Regione dichiara l'attivita' commerciale limitata dalla ridotta disponibilita' di personale antincendio: ogni volo si concorda prima.
Season and peaks Operating notes written in Italian
- Opens
- operativo tutto l'anno, ma solo con la luce del giorno
- Closes
- nessuna chiusura stagionale
- Peaks
- Natale-Capodanno
- febbraio
- 24-30 agosto: Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc a Courmayeur
The mistake not to repeat: Aosta has no ILS
Wikipedia and several commercial databases still credit Aosta with an instrument approach. That is a historical figure. The aeronautical publication in force says the opposite: no instrument procedure, visual aids only. This is not an archivist's quibble. A crew that plans on that assumption finds out the difference at the worst possible moment. That is why we write it here in plain words instead of leaving it to be inferred.
Visual only, daylight only
Operations are visual only and in daylight only, with a margin of half an hour before sunrise and after sunset. Low visibility operations are not permitted. The service is not a control tower but a flight information service, in uncontrolled airspace with radio mandatory. Fire cover is category 2, raisable on request: the move to category 5 is tied to the completion of the new terminal, expected in autumn 2026 and, at the date of this page, not yet done.
What gets in, put honestly
The runway is 1,499 metres by 30, at 1,796 feet of elevation. Light jets, in visual conditions, in daylight, subject to arrangement with the operator for handling, fire cover and customs — which here are requested with three hours' notice. We do not publish a maximum aircraft category because there is no official one: the real limit is not the runway, it is the sum of visual operations only, daylight only and category 2 fire cover. The Region itself states that commercial activity is limited by the reduced availability of fire service staff.
When it is worth it, and when it is not
It is worth it when the flight arrives in daylight, in visual weather, with a light aircraft, and the destination is Courmayeur: forty-one kilometres, thirty-five or forty-five minutes, no other airport in the Alps is that close to a resort. It is not worth it with an evening arrival, with a low cloud base, with a large aircraft or with a client who cannot afford a diversion. In those cases you land at Torino: two hours by road, but CAT III ILS, a tower open twenty-four hours and a dedicated terminal. It matters to us that the client knows exactly what service he is buying.
Questions we get
Does Aosta have an ILS?
No. Wikipedia and some commercial databases carry a historical figure: the aeronautical publication in force indicates no instrument approach procedure.
Can you land at Aosta in the evening?
No. Operations are in daylight only, with a half-hour margin. For an evening arrival you land at Torino.
How far is Aosta from Courmayeur?
Forty-one kilometres, thirty-five or forty-five minutes by road. It is the closest airport to a resort in our whole network.
What aircraft gets in?
Light jets, visual, in daylight, subject to arrangement with the airport operator. We do not publish a maximum category because there is no official one.
Are there customs?
Yes, on three hours' notice. One commercial source lists them as absent: before confirming a flight from outside Schengen we check with the airport operator.
Why do you sometimes recommend Torino?
Because it always holds: CAT III ILS, a tower open twenty-four hours, a terminal dedicated to general aviation and prior permission of only two hours. Torino to Courmayeur is under two hours by road.
Tell us the date. We tell you where you land.
Give us the day and how many of you are travelling: we come back with the airport that holds up on that date, the aircraft that fits your luggage and what the last leg costs.
Sources
- trasporti.regione.vda.it — Stato e gestione dell'aeroporto (Regione Valle d'Aosta)
- peter2000.co.uk — AIP AD 2 LIMW: distanze dichiarate, orari, dogana
- aeronauticalinformation.it — Estratti AIP correnti: solo VFR, servizio informazioni
- gazzettamatin.com — Categoria antincendio e nuovo terminal, gennaio 2026
- eur-lex.europa.eu — Valichi di frontiera aerei italiani (Gazzetta ufficiale UE)
What is not confirmed
This page carries 4 figures that come from our own operating data or from a brief, and that we have not been able to confirm against a public document. They are listed here rather than left where they look like facts.
Open the Italian notes
- La dogana risulta disponibile su preavviso di tre ore secondo la pubblicazione aeronautica, ma una fonte commerciale la da' come assente: prima di confermare un volo da fuori Schengen la verifichiamo con il gestore.
- La categoria antincendio effettiva oggi e lo stato del nuovo terminal atteso per l'autunno 2026.
- Non e' pubblicato un limite formale di categoria massima di aeromobile: la fascia realistica e' una valutazione nostra, da confermare volo per volo.
- I tempi di percorrenza sono forchette realistiche.