Brindisi Casale - Spotting Guide

Brindisi Casale – Spotting Guide

February 23, 2021 - last modified on November 19, 2023

Brindisi Casale Airport (BDS/LIBR) is also known as “Aeroporto del Salento” and can be found just roughly 3 km north of the city of Brindisi itsself. The beginnings of this airport are in the early 1920s, when waterairplanes used the harbour and some surrounding halls for flight services. Since then, the airport developed, was mainly used as military base during WW2 by the Germans and just in 1947, the civil terminal was built in the west of the airfield. Till 1994, the Italian air force had fighters based here and finally closed the base by resettling their helicopters in 2012.

Since then, the airport is used as civil airfield most of the time, however the Italian air force reserves the right to use the airfield whenever needed. So you can regularly see A319s, Do228s or Falcons training at BDS or stopping on a route here. BDS’ big advantage: the airport also serves as big UN hub with lots of goods being sent from the airport and shipport. Thus, you may also see some unregular charters carrying UN goods. In addition, BDS sees lots of general aviation and business jets in summer season.
Normal traffic in Brindisi however consists out of plenty charters in the summer season (Eurowings, Luxair and more) as well as a few regular flights within Italy flown by Ryanair and some routes by EasyJet. Furthermore there are also regular services to the Netherlands with Transavia and to Switzerland with Swiss.

Written by Julian Mittnacht in cooperation with Fabio Montanari. Last Update: Summer 2020

Rating
Movements
Airline Variety
Photo Locations
Weather
Airport Information
Runways
05/23	1796m x 45m – Asphalt
13/31	3048 x 45m – Asphalt
Terminals	Only passenger terminal in the west serving all flights.
Spotting Information
Ladder	Not needed as the mesh is spotterfriendly around the field.
Car/Public Transport	Recommended as most spots in the northwest are off public transport reach.
Restrooms	Along the coast and roads in the east and south are plenty shops, cafes and restaurants, where you may find some restrooms as well.
Drinks/Food	Along the coast and roads in the east and south are plenty shops, cafes and restaurants, where you can grab some food.
Hotels	South of the airport are plenty facilities for sleeping, some also offer nice views. However, there is no “special spotting hotel”.
Season	Summer is better as it offers better weather, although haze is a big problem then. Therefore, the winter has little business jets and is thus not such an intereting time.
Security	Spotting in Italy is tolerated in general, however military aircraft and buildings are not meant to be photographed. Thus, especially spot #5 is a problem sometimes as you are just on the opposite site of the former base and military zone. Keep a low profile at all times around the airport and don’t leave the ladder up at all time!
Runway Usage
General Info	Direction of usage does not just depend on the wind, it is also influenced by the aircraft’s destination. Due to calm winds and little traffic at most times, the aircraft use the runway in the direction they need/want to.
05/23	Runway is closed for usage as of 2020, it serves as parking and taxiway now.
13/31	Major runway handling all flights.

	Spot #1 – Beachfront – 13 Arrivals
WHERE	This spot can be found north of the airfield and is literally no exact position, just the area around the arrival lights. You can get rid of your car along “Via di Torre Testa” easily along the beach somewhere, then just search your favourite position around here. However, in summer the beaches are crowded as hell, so parking will be difficult then!

WHAT	Arrivals on runway 13 only.

TIME	Actually, you can use this spot all day by just walking along the front/street and thus crossing the runway axis.

MISC.	Nothing around, take care when walking or parking along the street as drivers are sometimes very furious here.

FOCAL LENGTH	70-300mm

Morning side:
Unluckily we cannot proivde any examples herefore yet.

Afternoon side:

	Spot #2 – Turning pad – 13/31 movements
WHERE	Take the road “Strada Communale 11”, which runs west along the runway 13/31. Where this street crosses a former taxiway next to a company hall on the west, park your car by the roadside and just search your favourite position by the roadside along the fence. This spot is no exact position, rather just the area along the fence here close to the runway’s end.

WHAT	This spot is good for almost all movements on runway 13/31. Just small aircraft may have left the runway after landing on runway 31 and thus won’t be shootable here. Same occurs, when light aircraft depart runway 31. These will be too high as well.

TIME	This spot is good from early noon till sunset.

MISC.	Ladder is recommended for easier spoting, however you can also shoot thru the fence at 90-degree to an aircraft. Haze is a big issue in summer here.

FOCAL LENGTH	50-250mm A320 side on 90-degree = 100mm

	Spot #3 – Abandoned house – 13/31 movements
WHERE	This spot is a bit tricky to find, but take “Strada Communale 11”, which runs on the west along the runway 13/31, and roughly next to the touchdown zone there should be an abbandoned house on the western side of the street. Leave your car by the roadside of this calm street and walk away from the street/fence to the abandoned and old house, which is already partly covered by plants. On the southwestern corner of this house, there are some little steps in the wall which allow one to climb the house’s top.

WHAT	From the house’s top you have a nice view onto all runway 13/31 movements.

TIME	This spot is good from early noon till sunset.

MISC.	Haze is a big issue in summer here. Climbing up and down the house is dangerous, but from the top you have a clear view! Do this as little as needed!

FOCAL LENGTH	70-300mm B738 side on 90-degree = 125mm

Walk up these little “stairsteps” on the southwestern corner of the former house:

View from above with the tree in front looks like this:

	Spot #4 – Gate 2 – 13/31 movements
WHERE	Just a few dozen meters next to/northeast of the airport’s civil terminal there is a gated parking area. This is a bit elevated in comparison to its surrounding area towards the northern side and down there on the street just below this parking, there is the apron gate 2 in the fence. It can be reached via some smaller streets along the fence as marked on the map, then just leave your car somewhere in this area, but take care not to park in the parking prohibited zone. Afterwards, just walk back to the gate and search your favourite posoition around here along the fence.

WHAT	From the gate you have a nice view onto all runway 13/31 movements.

TIME	This spot is good from early noon till sunset.

MISC.	Haze is a big issue in summer here. Take care not to park in the parking prohibited zone around here and not to block the gate of course!

FOCAL LENGTH	50-250mm B738 on runway = 80mm / Cessna 410 on runway = 210mm

	Spot #5 – Via delle Intappiate – Military apron + Bigger sized GA parking spots + 13/31 movements
WHERE	This spot is a bit tricky to find, but you need to make your way to the village southeast of the airport by the coast. There, you have to turn off “Via Materdomini” just a few meter east of the runway 13/31’s arrival lights into a small street called “Via delle Intappiate”. This will lead you thru some walls onto a little parking area of a residential area, but you will have to continue onto the field behind this parking. Leave your car by the roadside there and either stay on this little street for 31 arrivals or 13 departures or walk thru the field to the fence for anything else, where you have to shoot stuff on the ground.

WHAT	From here you can nicely see the apron accross and thus most parts of the military parking stands, where military charter and big business jets park sometimes. In addition, you can also see the civil terminal apron in the distance and even the runway’s cross, so also almost all 13/31 movements can be shot from here.

TIME	This spot is good from sunrise till early noon only.

MISC.	Haze is a big issue in summer here on the aprons. Ladder would be useful,. but take care to keep a very low profile here as you are just accross the military apron/area and could be seen easily thus. The bushes between the little road “Via delle Intappiate” here where you can park and the fence are sometimes very big and scretchy. So wear rather long stuff here! The street here is a bit bumpy and can turn into a big messy ride during rain, so we recommend not to come here with sports cars.

FOCAL LENGTH	100-300mm Apron overview = 160mm / C17 on stands = 175mm

	Spot #6 – Runway head east – Middle size GA parking + nearby taxiway/runway + 13 departures
WHERE	This spot is no exact position, it is actually just the fence part at the runway 05/23’s northeastern head. You can park your car on one of the many beach parking spots around here along “Via Materdomini” and then just search your favourite position on the other side of the street along the fence. One can easily walk along the fence between the two ends marked on the map (apron gate 6 in the north and apron gate 7 in the south).

WHAT	As this spot is not an exact position as well here, rather the fenceside in the east, this spot offers a few different sights: 1. parking positions along the fence on former runway/taxiway parts mostly used by middle sized GA aircraft 2. nearby taxiway and runway parts 3. heavier departures from runway 31

TIME	Again, the best time here depends on what exactly you want to shoot from here, but in general we recommend the spot in the morning. In the afternoon, you will have backlit on most sights here except maybe some GA aircraft parked here weirdly.

MISC.	Haze is a big issue in summer here on the runway and farer away taxiways.

FOCAL LENGTH	24-400mm A320 on runway = 300mm / PC12 in front = 45mm