Assaeroporti, over 200 million passengers are expected by the end of the year. In Italy there is a desire to fly

(Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - After having archived the first 10 months of 2024 with almost 190 million passengers, the Italian airport system will close the year exceeding 200 million. This is the forecast of Carlo Borgomeo, president of Assaeroporti, the association of Italian airports that represents 26 airport management companies for 32 airports. In detail, in the first ten months of the year, Italian airports recorded more than 189 million passengers, or +11% compared to the same period last year. Very satisfying was the figure for the month of October alone, which recorded more than 20 million passengers, an increase of 9% compared to October 2023.

"Air transport is doing very well. The forecast is to end the year exceeding 200 million passengers,' he explained in an interview with Radiocor. 'A number', the chairman added, 'that we touched last year and would have exceeded if it had not been for the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East'. According to Borgomeo, 'the sector is doing well, growing. It is a sector that has many criticalities, some even related to tumultuous growth, but it is also a sector in which there is always great news, namely that there is always unpredictable, strong demand. Beyond the economic data, one perceives that there is a great desire to fly. After Covid there were all kinds of predictions, all of which were quickly burnt because people started flying again'.

There are, however, critical issues in the sector. The latest one to emerge, in order of time, is that linked to flight prices. "At certain times of the year there are prices that are too high, but there is some exaggeration on the subject," explained Borgomeo, according to whom a "long-term solution is a response that puts the competition rules in line. Of course there is an Authority that has to do its job. The rules may be there and they may be well established but there may be some abuse. And we without hesitation believe' that those who commit these abuses 'should be hit hard'. Another critical issue concerns the so-called PNA, or rather the National Airport Plan, which the government has been working on for months but which still has not seen the light of day. This is the political and technical policy document for the development of air transport and the airport system to boost the competitiveness of the national economic system. "We have lost it from the radar," said Borgomeo. "The thing is inexplicable because officially we said we appreciated the way in which former deputy minister Bignami conducted the table. He listened and we were satisfied with most of the assessments made on the first draft, but there must be some reflection that the government is doing otherwise I cannot explain this silence'.

Then there is the chapter on green investments that the air transport sector is called upon to make without a public parachute. A choice, that of the government, which Borgomeo defines as incomprehensible. "We have always taken sides, and paradoxically in a somewhat obtuse way we continue to do so, on the incomprehensible exclusion of the investments made by airports for the digital and ecological transition from the Pnrr. When we talk about green we don't pretend, we believe in it and are convinced of it. We are, however, a little disappointed. We have a final hope but I fear it will be dashed,' he added. "It is on the cards that some resources will have to be returned and we will continue to try' so that some funds will also be allocated to these investments. The president recalled how 'there are 1.5 billion investments to be made: 65% green and 35% digital. These are investments that we will make regardless because they have to be made. But we have always said that this public support would allow us to accelerate these investments' that 'we will do them in self-financing and with a bit more slowness. Certainly the sector is doing well, especially the large airports have important economic results as well, but in self-financing it will take longer'.

Finally a mention was made of the now imminent wedding between Ita and Lufthansa. 'We have always been in favour of this operation. It is not a question of taking sides in the operation itself, which seems to hold, but of believing that a national air transport system must have a particularly strong player. Otherwise the mechanism itself does not work'.