There are 31 airports of national interest, expansion for Malpensa

An important go ahead has been given for the national plan to reorganise the airports in Italy. The major reorganisation plan aims to reduce the fragmentation of the airports and encourage a general process of reorganisation.

With today’s go ahead, the plan has been launched by the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Corrado Passera,  and will now be sent to the State-Regional conference for the final decision.

The plan has three main lines of action: identification of the airports that are of national interest, adoption of economic-financial rebalancing plans, promotion of the Airport Networks, and rationalisation of air navigation services and general client services.

The plan covers thirty one airports of national interest (including Malpensa, Fiumicino and Venice), which will undergo interventions on infrastructure, and no new airports. According to the plan, the airports that are not of national interest will be transferred to the appropriate Regions, which will assess what other use may be made of them, and/or whether they should be closed.

The plan does not entail building any new airports, and, therefore, Grazzanise and Viterbo will not be built.

There are currently 112 airports operating in Italy, of which, 90 are open solely to civil traffic (43 are open to commercial flights, 47 to unscheduled civil flights), 11 are military airports open to civil traffic (3 open to commercial flights, and 8 to unscheduled civil flights), and 11 are exclusively for military use. The policy act, “the aim of which is to reduce the existing fragmentation and encourage a process of reorganisation and streamlining, proposes to identify the airports that are of national interest, which will make up the strategic framework on which to base development of the sector over the next few years.” For these airports, either their national licences to operate will continue, or licences for total management will be issued, where this has not already been done.

The airports of national interest will also be able to be involved in an infrastructure development program, to increase their capacity, accessibility and intermodality, starting with Rome’s Fiumicino Airport (the building of a new runway, enhancement of the embarkation areas and of the terminals), Malpensa and Venice (improved accessibility to the buildings and improved high-speed interconnections). Development of several other airports is planned for the medium-long term.