WindRunner, Zes Unica in the field to attract Radia

The Single Zes, together with the Ministry of Made-in-Italy Enterprises (Mimit) and the regions of Puglia, Campania and Calabria, are also among the institutional subjects involved in the maxi investment of over 3 billion announced by the US group Radia to build the WindRunner, a large cargo plane (fully loaded 72 tonnes) to transport wind turbines over 105 metres long. The involvement of the single Zes is no coincidence. The speed and flexibility that the mission structure of Palazzo Chigi is demonstrating - with average times for issuing single authorisations for new production settlements of 31 days - can in fact make the difference+, together with the availability of areas, aeronautical companies and existing airport infrastructures, including runways, all indispensable pre-requisites for the location of the mega settlement. Not to mention the other ZES advantage linked to the tax credit, insofar as - as the coordinator of the mission structure himself, Giosy Romano, confirms - it is often precisely the maximum acceleration of the time required to issue urban planning authorisations that prevails over the tax incentive, which is also important. If confirmed, the fast track of the single Zes with a single authorisation would be added to the willingness to intervene in the financing of the settlement by both Mimit, which has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Radia and the Leonardo and Magnaghi Aeronautica companies, and the regions interested in entering the game, from Puglia to Campania and Calabria. Apulia has aeronautical industrial sites distributed between Foggia, Brindisi, and Grottaglie, and counts on an ecosystem of university research applied to the production world and skills training, such as the Its aerospace. "We,' explains Alessandro Delli Noci, Regional Councillor for Economic Development in Apulia, 'have given our willingness to invest, which is possible thanks to our strategy of growth in the sector. In order to attract investment, we need not only rapid authorisation, but also a systemic approach. "We need to speed up the procedures with a single authorisation of the areas identified,' emphasises Antonio Marchiello, Campania's councillor for Productive Activities, 'but it is essential to move by involving the entire South. An organic and holistic approach, therefore, which can also be explained by the fact that the companies with which Radia signed the memorandum - Leonardo and Magnaghi Aeronautica - operate both in Puglia and Campania, and are big players in an industrial supply chain of enormous importance, but one that has been neglected for some time and on which industrial policies must be focused in order to relaunch its development and growth.

IntesaSanpaolo's Southern Italy Districts Monitor reports that the exports of the two aerospace clusters of Campania and Puglia decreased by 8.5 and 8.1 per cent respectively in the first nine months of 2024 compared to the same period in 2023.

The Radia mega investment is therefore an important opportunity for the two regions. 'The alliance between Puglia and Campania,' emphasises Luigi Carrino, president of the Campania Aerospace District (DAC), 'serves to maintain their competitive strength in the world. And they must work together as was attempted for the new generation of the Atr turboprop. If this collaboration is extended to Calabria, a southern system is created'. In the latter region, the news came last February with the announcement of Ryanair's first maintenance hangars at Lamezia airport, the first in southern Italy.

On the production site of this aircraft where everything is big - 108 metres in length, front loading of the giant blades 30 metres longer than the current ones, wingspan 80 metres, flight range of 2,000 km - the game is, however, very complex. The exact numbers of the maxi investment are still to be defined, along with the source of financing, and there are high decision-making levels that directly affect relations between the two states, which should close the deal with the signing of a GtoG memorandum. But Trump's turmoil and pirouettes are a variable that must be taken into account. In any case, one fact is certain: the Radia investment is aimed at creating an aircraft that has a large market because it is destined to replace the outdated Antonov. The WindRunner would then have a dual use, civil and military, transporting onshore wind blades for high-capacity wind farms, and would provide the related freight service, not their sale. And Radia would order up to 150 of them, according to some estimates. And Radia would order up to 150 of them, according to some estimates. Thus, it would forcefully enter a market, that of on-shore wind energy, which could reach USD 10 trillion in value by 2050, equal to 1 million wind turbines.

"On the sites where the settlement is to be located," Angelo Guarini, managing director of Confindustria Brindisi, emphasises, "all the necessary airport authorisations are needed, adequate runway lengths of 1800 metres, which are already available in the Brindisi and Grottaglie area.