Campania and Puglia: an alliance between the aerospace clusters

Talks are under way between the two Italian aerospace hubs in Campania and Puglia. The councillors for Economic Development – Fulvio Bonavitacola for the Naples-based authority and Eugenio Di Sciascio for the Bari-based one – have been in contact over the past few weeks. They were prompted by the serious concerns that emerged this summer regarding the future of Leonardo’s Aerostructures business unit, and the possibility of industrial partnerships to restructure the division. Now, the prospect of greater integration is becoming increasingly likely.

“Campania and Puglia represent the main aerospace hub in Southern Italy and one of the most important in the country,” says Bonavitacola. “Presenting a united front to the institutions means affirming a unified vision of Southern Italy as a major aerospace centre. Surrounding the major manufacturing plants is a network of hundreds of highly specialised small and medium-sized enterprises, which form an essential part of the supply chain. A common strategy would also help to strengthen our ability to attract European and national funding, ranging from ERDF funds to the STEP programme, right through to instruments for innovation and research.”

In Campania, the aerospace sector is represented by the Dac aerospace cluster, which is still attracting new members today (34 large companies; 122 SMEs; 15 research centres, including the five universities in Campania, with a total turnover of 4 billion and 15,000 employees). “Integration exists and can grow,” says Luigi Carrino, president of the DAC. “But we also need a new joint project. We must focus on a new civil aircraft. Only in this way will the Campania and Puglia cluster be able to develop further in terms of production, but above all in terms of research and innovation.”

This argument is also supported by research from SRM, a research centre affiliated with Intesa Sanpaolo. This explains that the economic ties between the two regions are already very substantial. Within Southern Italy, Campania is the leading destination market for Apulian aeronautical products and the second-largest for food products; Apulia, in turn, is the second-largest destination market for Campania’s food and automotive products. Furthermore, the two regions together account for over 831,000 businesses in total, more than 3 million employees and a combined GDP of 231.7 billion, representing 10.5 per cent of national wealth: a scale comparable to that of Lazio and Veneto. “It is the existing integration that we need to focus on,” says SRM’s Director-General, Massimo Deandreis. “We are not thinking of an administrative shift, but rather an economic and social one. This will undoubtedly be further facilitated by the construction of the Naples–Bari high-speed rail line.”