The Italian transport sector is picking up pace. Operational management must do the same
Italian airports handled 229.7 million passengers in 2025, representing a 5 per cent increase on the previous year. In January 2026, air traffic rose by a further 6.7 per cent, driven mainly by international passenger flows. High-speed rail is also showing positive trends. The Italian transport sector is growing. Yet the financial statements of companies in the sector tell a different story: turnover reached 96 billion euros, but profitability is struggling to keep pace. Between 2019 and 2026, the cost of electricity rose by 73 per cent, diesel by 30 per cent and labour by 18 per cent. Growing volumes, margins under pressure: this is the contradiction that defines the sector today.
Greater demand, greater complexity
Airlines, rail operators, infrastructure managers and public transport companies face a structural challenge: how to scale up operational capacity without increasing costs. The answer does not lie in the incremental optimisation of existing processes; it requires a change of model.
The 2026–2035 National Airports Plan provides for investment of around 1.2 billion euros in rail links to key airports. By 2031, 26 Italian airports will be integrated with the national rail network. The direction is clear: the mobility of the future is intermodal and integrated, and requires systems capable of coordinating in real time on a much larger scale.
From the digital enterprise to the autonomous enterprise
Many transport companies have already completed their digital transformation: cloud-based management systems, centralised data, standardised processes. It was a necessary step, but it is not the end goal.
The real breakthrough lies in moving from an organisation that uses data to make better decisions to an enterprise capable of acting autonomously, detecting operational variations, triggering real-time responses and managing routine exceptions without human intervention wherever possible. It is not about replacing people: it is about freeing them from high-volume, low-value tasks so they can focus on areas where human judgement is truly crucial. This is the concept of the Autonomous Enterprise.
