Palermo Airport Arrivals

There are a number of arrivals gates at Palermo Airport including five with sky bridges. Planes docking at the sky bridges will allow passengers to disembark from the front door directly into the terminal. Other aircraft will be directed to park on the airport apron and passengers will leave by front and rear doors and either walk to the terminal or be transferred by bus.

The airport provides assistance at this point for passengers with reduced mobility or special needs, but this has to be requested from the airline at the time of booking, or at least forty-eight hours in advance.

Passport Control

Inside the terminal passengers on international flights will have to pass through immigration where you will be required to show a passport valid for the duration of your stay. Citizens from Schengen area countries can show a national identification card.

There is no passport control for passengers arriving on internal flights.

Baggage Reclaim

After immigration, you will head for baggage reclaim where your hold luggage should soon appear. Those with only hand baggage can continue to customs.

To find which carousel your bags will be on, check your flight number on the main information screens. The smaller monitors at each carousel will show the airline, flight number and origin and the baggage handling agent.

On rare occasions, baggage doesn't arrive or is damaged. In the unfortunate event that this happens to you, you should immediately notify the handling agent whose desks are in the reclaim area. You will be given a Lost/Damaged Property form on which you need to write your local and home addresses and details of how you can be contacted.

Where your bags are damaged, gather as much evidence as possible. Take pictures and show the handling agent. Your airline is ultimately responsible for loss and damage, so report it to them as soon as you can.

Missing baggage usually turns up within a few hours and you can claim any interim expenses from the airline.

Customs

When leaving the baggage reclaim area you will have to pass through customs. Some items are restricted and there are strict allowances for duty-free goods. If you are not sure if you need to declare anything, ask a customs officer. If you have nothing to declare you can pass through the green channel or the blue EU channel. For full details on allowances and restricted goods, check the European Commission website.

Arrivals Hall

When you have cleared customs, you will pass through the doors into the arrivals hall. If you are being met by anyone, they should be here. If you are collecting a hire car, the offices of the car rental companies are located in here.

The arrivals hall at Palermo airport has fewer facilities than many other airports but, should you have to wait here for arriving passengers or for onward transport, there is a bar/grill serving hot and cold food and drinks. You can also take advantage of the free unlimited Wi-Fi to keep in touch with emails and social media.

For the taxi rank, exit the arrivals hall and turn left. The bus and coach parking area is to the right at the end of the terminal building. The short-stay car park is directly opposite the exit. For the long-stay car park follow the signs for the shuttle bus. The train station is underneath the airport and is accessed by the stairs, escalators or lifts.

All the facilities are well signed and there is an information desk.