Italian airport traffic down less than 1% in July; Bologna and Bergamo up more than 10%

Latest traffic figures for Italian airports show that in July many airports were once again reporting growth. Overall total passenger numbers are down less than 1% in July, with domestic traffic up almost 1% and international traffic down just under 2%. Bologna and Milan Bergamo are the fastest growing of the major airports reporting 14.1% and 16.9% growth respectively. Palermo, Pisa and Rome Ciampino also reported growth in July, but Italy’s two biggest airports at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa saw demand fall by 7.3% and 2.6% respectively.

Among smaller airports reporting significant growth in July were Trapani (+113.3%), Cuneo (+35.5%), Perugia (+25.0%), Bari (+21.2%), Cagliari (+21.2%) and Alghero (+19.1%).
Year to date traffic down 6.4%
For the period January to July total passenger traffic is down 6.4% compared with 2008, with domestic traffic down 6.5% and international traffic down 6.2%. However, some of the larger airports have reported modest growth such as Bergamo (6.8% growth driven by a 46% increase in domestic traffic as international traffic fell 1.2%), Bologna (+6.5%) and Pisa (+0.9%).

Source: Anna.aereo



Compare the prices of over 100 low cost airlines!

Ryanair cuts nine out of 10 routes from Manchester Airport. This means routes to and from Cagliari in Sardinia will cease from October.

Ryanair has announced it will cut nine out of 10 routes at Manchester Airport from October creating a loss of 60,000 passengers a year.
The low-cost carrier announced its decision yesterday blaming the airport's refusal to lower its charges for giving them no other option.
A total of 44 weekly Ryanair flights will be lost at Manchester from October 1as well as 600 local jobs.
The airline’s decision comes after cuts to its base at Stansted, as well as Dublin, in favour of cheaper airports elsewhere in the UK and on the Continent.

Ryanair said it had offered Manchester an additional 28 weekly flights and 400,000 new passengers which would have created 400 new jobs if the airport 'reduced its high charges' but airport bosses had rejected this offer.
This means routes to and from Barcelona (Girona), Bremen in Germany, Brussels (Charleroi), Cagliari in Sardinia, Dusseldorf (Weeze), Frankfurt (Hahn), Marseille, Milan (Bergamo) and Shannon will cease from October.
Passengers affected will be provided with a full refund from Ryanair or given the alternative of flying to some destinations from 'competing, lower-cost airports' such as East Midlands, Liverpool or the airline's new base at Leeds Bradford.

Ryanair launches three new Italian bases: Alghero, Cagliari and Bologna

Ryanair has launched three new Italian bases (now totaling seven) at Alghero, Bologna and Cagliari Airports offering a total of sixty-seven domestic and international routes, generating over four million passengers per annum and supporting four thousand jobs in Italy.

Ryanair will base two aircraft at each of these three airports bringing Ryanair’s total investment in Italy to twenty-six aircraft worth almost two billion dollars.

Celebrating these Italian Base Ryanair’s Stephen McNamara said:

“Ryanair and Italy today join in the celebration of continued low fares growth across Italy. Our three new bases in Alghero, Bologna and Cagliari will see over four million new passengers pass through these three airports over the next year on sixty-seven low cost domestic and international routes.

Easier.com
“Ryanair’s continued expansion in Italy during a time of economic recession shows the benefit of competition and low fares in Italy. Ryanair will carry over seventeen million passengers to/from Italy this year and will sustain seventeen-thousand jobs throughout the regions. Passengers can continue to beat the recession by choosing Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares and no fuel surcharges over Alitalia’s high fare, strike ridden services.

“Ryanair’s guaranteed lowest fares are available to book online at Ryanair.com”.

Saint-Exupéry in Alghero: The French author landed in Alghero-Fertilia in 1944

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of all-time bestseller The little prince, landed 1944 on Alghero Fertilia airport as part of the French troops in World war II., just two months before he died in an accident.
Saint Exupéry, along with his navigator, André Prévot, crashed in the Libyan Sahara desert en route to Saigon in 1935. The team was attempting to fly from Paris to Saigon faster than any previous aviators, for a prize of 150,000 francs. Both survived the landing, but were faced with the prospect of rapid dehydration in the Sahara. Saint Exupéry's famous fable The Little Prince, which begins with a pilot being marooned in the desert, is in part a reference to this experience.

In 1944, however, the French author spent some time at Fertilia airport before being transferred to the French Island of Corsica. Saint Exupéry's final assignment was to collect intelligence on German troop movements in and around the Rhone Valley preceding the Allied invasion of southern France. On the evening of July 31, 1944, he left from an airbase on Corsica, and was never seen again. A woman reported having watched a plane crash around noon of August the first near the Bay of Carqueiranne off Toulon. An unidentifiable body wearing French colors was found several days later and buried in Carqueiranne that September.

The Exma museum in Cagliari dedicates an exposition to Saint Exupéry's stay in Sardinia until January, 31st 2009

Read full article (Italian)