Ryanair invests in the smaller airports of Emilia-Romagna
After the Region cut the municipal surtax at Rimini, Forlì and Parma airports, the low cost company adds 20 routes
Ryanair has kept its promises and after the Emilia-Romagna Region's cut in the municipal surtax on minor airports, a tax that directly affects the final cost of air tickets, has announced 20 new routes from Forlì, Rimini and Parma for next summer, a reinforcement that the company estimates at 660 thousand passengers a year, 50% more than the current presence in the region where the low cost company currently flies only from Bologna. The 20 new routes range from Cagliari London Stansted to Forlì; Tirana, Reggio Calabria and London Stansted from Parma, Wroclaw, Manchester, Cologne and Catania from Rimini. No change instead for the capital airport where the fee reduction is not foreseen.
Emilia Romagna is the fifth Italian region to have abolished the tax that Ryanair calls 'regressive', as has already been done by Abruzzo, Calabria, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Sicily to stimulate traffic, tourism and employment growth. Ryanair some time ago launched a campaign across Europe to reduce airport taxes that weigh on the final ticket price. The carrier estimates that if this tax were abolished throughout Italy, the Irish carrier could base an additional 40 aircraft in Italy for a USD 4 billion investment, add another 20 million passengers a year, 250 new routes and 15 thousand jobs in Italia.
The decision to abolish the tax to support smaller airports up to 700,000 passengers had been put forward by the Region chaired by Michele de Pascale and approved by the government in the last budget law. This decision did not go unnoticed by the managing director of Bologna airport Nazareno Ventola, according to whom this measure distorts the air transport market in the Region with repercussions on investment and employment. Ryanair, the first company in Europe and in Italia, in addition to welcoming the Region's decision, believes that "now is the right time to take a step forward - said Ryanair CEO Eddie Wilson - and abolish this anti-growth tax in all Italian airports".
In Europe, Ryanair has started its own battle for airport tax reductions at numerous airports: in Spain it has threatened to reduce the number of seats it offers by 41% by reducing its presence due to the 'excessive and uncompetitive airport charges applied by the operator Aena'. The low-cost carrier's axe also fell on Germany and France: in the first case, 800,000 seats offered were reduced and 24 routes cancelled. While in the second case, 750 fewer seats and the cancellation of 25 routes, with a 13% drop in capacity in France.
