The green revolution of Trenitalia continues with new generation and hybrid trains and enhanced passengers services, as the Italian state railways gears up for a return to its summer schedule, and to an expected upswing in holiday traffic and international arrivals.

"We are looking optimistically at a third consecutive successful summer season – said director of regional business management Sabrina De Filippis – as we continue to expand our network of destinations, add exciting new services and introducing new generation rolling stock.”

 

The new trains put the emphasis on green travel

The regional fleet continues to grow, and already has over 50% of new generation trains with a wide range of passenger comforts and facilities, and a special emphasis on green travel.

“Working with bus companies we have extended our services to areas that can only be reached by road.  Now our new trains have onboard bike stations with secure racks, further extending our reach by making it possible for passengers to continue their train+bus journey on bicycles.” 

Blues trains cut emissions and noise levels  

With Trenitalia’s regional fleet set for an 80% renewal over the next four years, June 2022 will see the arrival of the first of the 110 new Blues trains. With a green footprint that allows a 50% reduction in fuel consumption, the Blues represents a generational leap. With triple diesel, electric and battery power, the trains run on diesel motors on non-electrified lines, on electric motors on electrified lines, and on batteries for the first and last mile on non-electrified lines, and during stops in stations. Thus avoiding the use of fuels, eliminating emissions, and greatly reducing noise levels in urban areas.

The first children’s play area on a train

 “Passengers will also find new services on board - continued De Filippis - including enhanced luggage storage areas and USB sockets and the other great novelty, and another first for a regional train, the colourful play areas for children.”

American Airlines is betting on Rome again and, for the summer of 2022, will be operating routes from five airports in the United States to Rome’s Fiumicino airport. Daily Philadelphia services will start from 3 March and run through the 2022-2023 winter season. From 5 April it will be the turn of the daily seasonal flights from the hubs of New York JFK, Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago, and after more than two years since it was suspended the seasonal Charlotte-Rome route will also resume.

Back to 2019 traffic levels 

"We are simply thrilled to be back as the airline offering the highest number of daily connections between the United States and Rome during the summer season”, commented Rhett Workman, Managing Director EMEA and Asia Operations of American Airlines. “Italy and Rome are two very important destinations in our global network and, thanks to the great collaboration with Aeroporti di Roma over the last two years, we are happy to return to the same levels as in 2019. This is an excellent starting point for us to start growing again side by side."

Fiumicino one of the most efficient airports in Europe and worldwide

"The United States is the main intercontinental market for Rome and Italy, and the first one that returns to operating routes in line with pre-Covid levels,” added Ivan Bassato, Chief Aviation Officer Aeroporti di Roma. “This was also possible thanks to the constant partnership with airlines in developing and implementing security protocols that have made Fiumicino one of the most proactive, innovative and efficient airports in Europe and worldwide."

Three classes of travel experience

All American Airlines flights between the US and Rome Fiumicino will be operated by Boeing 777-2 and Boeing 787-8 aircraft equipped with high-speed Wi-Fi, power outlets and screens for access to in-flight entertainment at each individual seat. Passengers travelling on all these routes can choose from three travel experiences: Flagship Business, Premium Economy and Main Cabin.

Flyr is expanding its European network with the addition of five new destinations, including Pisa, which is the third in Italy. The new route from Oslo to Pisa Galileo Galilei, operating from 6 May - initially with two frequencies per week on Mondays and Fridays, that will increase to three in July and August - joins those already operating to Rome and Milan Bergamo.

Flyr flies to 13 destinations

Waiting for the rebound in travel demand expected for the summer, Flyr closed the month of January with a total of 30,042 passengers who traveled to 13 destinations. Numbers that were influenced by the adaptation of supply to the reduced demand for travel caused by the increase in the spread of Omicron, as well as to the restrictions implemented by the government in December.

A satisfying load factor for January

Total capacity in January, with an average of 3 aircraft in operation, was 53.5 million ASKs (available seat kilometers), with a load factor of 53.7%. "The home office recommendation and newly implemented social restrictions greatly affected the aviation industry and led to a substantial reduction in customer bookings, particularly for January. Considering this situation, we are very pleased with the load factor we achieved during the month," commented Tonje Wikstrøm Frislid, Ceo of Flyr.

A fleet of Boeing 737-800s

Flyr is a Norwegian low-cost passenger airline. Headquartered in Oslo with an operational base at Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, the airline operates Boeing 737-800 flights within Norway, and between Norway and European leisure destinations.

With the many new and repeat low-cost flights dedicated to ski destinations, Turin airport is relaunching its bet on snow-related traffic. The airport has already handled some 56,000 foreign skiers in the first nine weeks of operations.

Many new flights to ski destinations

Many of the new ski routes and airlines are in addition to those previously operated on Caselle Airport. In fact, starting with the 2021-22 winter season, Ryanair will offer five new ski routes from Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, London Luton, and Shannon. In addition it has increased its frequencies from Dublin, which have gone from one to three flights per week. In the summer of 2022, routes to Dublin and Edinburgh will also be introduced.

Other routes are back to normal

Wizz Air's Warsaw route has been confirmed as have Jet2.com's Birmingham, Edinburgh, and Manchester routes, and easyJet's Bristol, London Gatwick, London Luton, and Manchester routes have also restarted. Birmingham, Bristol, Glasgow, London Gatwick, Manchester, and Newcastle are connected by charter flights, as are Gothenburg, Malmo, Stockholm, Copenhagen, Dublin, Helsinki, and Warsaw.

A fast recovery to ski destinations

The main reference markets for the Turin Airport snow segment, namely the United Kingdom (from which 74% of skiers arrive), Ireland (14%), Scandinavia (10%, divided between Denmark, Finland, and Sweden), and Poland (2%), have thus been confirmed to be stable. This is also thanks to the fact that some countries have relaxed restrictions, allowing a faster recovery of traffic to ski destinations.

Favourite ski resorts in Italy 

While the British market prefers packaged ski holidays to Sauze d'Oulx, Cervinia, and Sestrières, as well as Bardonecchia, Clavière, La Thuile, and Pila, Scandinavians prefer Cervinia, Sauze d'Oulx, Champoluc, and Courmayeur. Furthermore, a sizable number of passengers travel across the Alps to the nearest French ski resorts.

Air Serbia adds three new routes from Belgrade to Bari, Trieste, and Bologna, and now Italy ranks first in terms of the number of destinations served by the airline: six in total with those already operated to Milan, Rome, and Venice.

New routes are operated with Atr72s 

In the case of Bari, this is a seasonal flight with three weekly frequencies that will operate from 5 June to 27 October. Trieste and Bologna flights will begin on 2 and 6 June 2022 respectively, and will operate three times a week (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday for the Friuli capital; Monday, Wednesday and Friday for Bologna). An Atr72 will be used on all new routes.

Close economic relations between Serbia and Italy

"Italy is an extremely important market for both our company and Serbia, in consideration of the very close economic relations between our two countries,” said Manager Planning and Operations Manager Bojan Arandjelovic. “We are particularly satisfied with the direct flights to Trieste, a city with the largest Serbian diaspora in Italy, while the connections with Bologna will help to strengthen our cultural and economic relations with Italy."

An expanding European network

The company, which has already announced new flights to Valencia, Palma de Mallorca, and Rijeka (Fiume) plans to continue expanding its network with the aim of recovering 2019 traffic levels by 2023, thanks to a performance that was higher than the European average in terms of the number of passengers and the load factor in 2021. Overall Air Serbia carried 1.5 million passengers in 2021, up 76% from 2020, although this figure is still 43% lower than in 2019.  

All and sundry wild about Italy? So it would seem, and it may not be a simple excess of optimism triggered by the two years of negativity linked to the pandemic. In January 2022 searches for international flights to Italy soared by 201% over the previous year, a figure still below the pre-Covid January of 2020, but only by 36%. 

These figures come from an analysis on travel intentions and bookings by digital marketing platform Sojern. And Italy is topping the list of the countries from which flight booking searches originate with 33.4%, followed by Germany, the United States (12.1%) and the United Kingdom (8.7%).

Airlines on the profitable transatlantic routes are champing at the bit to capitalise on this trend, with the US majors, American, Delta and United, stepping up operations - at least on paper. And so are Ita Airways, Neos and, of course Emirates with its Airbus A380 service to New York.

Even the International Air Transport Association is playing up the upswing in travel demand as it keeps pace with the removal of travel restrictions. It’s still too early to quantify the fallout from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There will be consequences, at least in the short term, but air transport is resilient...

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist

Ryanair’s Italian summer network will have 38 flights to Cagliari and 20 to Alghero. The Irish low-cost airline will also be placing a new aircraft at Cagliari, bringing the total to three, and will add four new routes to the network, which will count 38 destinations, for over 170 weekly flights (+50% capacity).

With Carcassonne, Palma de Mallorca, Nuremberg and Poznan as new entries, many classic destinations such as Paris, Madrid, Dublin, Milan and Venice are also confirmed

Alghero flights double from ten to twenty

Alghero gets the lion’s share with flights jumping from ten to twenty which means a hike from one half a million to one million passengers. 

A third aircraft based in Cagliari

Overall, Ryanair will operate 58 routes from Sardinia this summer:

"The addition of the new aircraft at Cagliari airport is a further investment of €100 million dollars; this is our largest summer operation ever at Cagliari and it will allow us to offer greater connectivity and over 170 weekly flights on 38 routes, including four new ones.  This all goes to supporting the recovery of tourism after two years of travel restrictions and giving a much-needed boost to the island's activities,” says Ryanair’s Commercial Director, Jason McGuinness.

United Airlines is betting on a summer rebound in leisure demand and on its new Malpensa-Chicago flights, says Country Sales Manager Italy, Walter Cianciusi.

Walter Cianciusi “This is a record-breaking operation. Never before have we operated up to eight daily flights from Italy (up from six in 2019) and we are looking at an increase of about 35% in seats offered., Although February is traditionally a stalemate month there are encouraging signs from bookings. Especially for Naples and the new Milan Malpensa-Chicago, together with the second daily Rome-New York flight and the return of the usual seasonal Venice flight."

Naples is the gateway to the Amalfi Coast for American visitors

United Airlines’ summer flights especially to Naples and Venice, but with significant shares also to Rome and Milan, appeal in particular to inbound traffic. “Naples confirms its appeal also as a gateway to Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, which is very popular with American visitors."

Connections from Chicago to the West Coast of the USA

The new Malpensa-Chicago B787-8 flights start on 7 May, and United will be the only carrier to operate direct services between Milan and New York. “Our departure time from Malpensa (15.10) will allow passengers from a very large catchment area - from Turin to Venice - to benefit from the flight. The evening arrival (18.00) will give access to a large number of connections from our network, starting from those to the West Coast, California in primis."

“High fuel prices could affect fares."

"We are confident about the recovery of travel and the appeal of the US-Italy flights, although the corporate sector will still not be at full capacity (Iata estimates this will rebound in 2024) and this is a penalizing factor. Then there is the new challenge of high fuel prices, which could affect fares."

Up to eight daily United Airlines flights from Italy  

United’s Italian summer sees the Rome Fiumicino-New York Newark doubling with a second daily seasonal flight, from 27 May. “This is in addition to the annual flight and to the seasonal Washington and Chicago flights operating respectively from 27 March and 7 May. Summer flights from Venice and Naples to New York are back, from 6 and 2 May; and from Milan Malpensa the daily flight to New York will be flanked by the brand new seasonal flight to Chicago, also starting on 7 May.” 

Volotea relaunches operations from Florence with a new connection to Bordeaux from 27 May. The new route, operated exclusively by the Spanish airline, will take off every Monday and Friday, for a total offer of over 14,000 seats. The new flight shortens the distance between Tuscany and France, strengthening the tourist axis to and from Florence, and is an excellent opportunity for all French citizens who want to organize a holiday dedicated to art, culture and excellent cuisine in Tuscany.

Volotea also flies to Pisa and Olbia

The announcement of the Florence-Bordeaux flight marks Volotea's return to Florence’s Peretola Airport, completing the airline's offer in the Tuscan Airport system. In fact, the carrier also confirms flights from Pisa airport to Nantes and Olbia, operational respectively from 8 April 2022 (flying three times a week) and from 28 May 2022 (flying twice a week).

Boosting tourism and supporting the local economy

The new connection with Bordeaux will make it even easier to plan a short break in France, said Valeria Rebasti, Volotea Country Manager for Italy & South-eastern Europe.  “We are happy to be able to operate flights on Florence airport again, and we hope to increase the flow of incoming tourists eager to spend a few days in Tuscany. With our connections we aim to boost tourism, supporting the local economy and the whole Tuscan region which has been so severely tested by the pandemic.”

Ryanair will expands its network from Alghero (Sardinia) with a new route to Dublin that will be operational from 27 March with two weekly flights. This new entry is part of a wider plan to expand the network of destinations offered by the low cost airline from its Dublin hub.

This summer the Ryanair network will be the airline’s largest ever, with 120 destinations (22 of which are new) on which it will operate over 900 weekly flights. Ryanair will also place another aircraft here, thus bringing the total to 33.

More choice for summer vacations

"We are pleased to add this new route to Dublin as part of our Italian summer operations, offering our customers another fantastic European destination and expanding the choice for the long-awaited summer vacations - says the Ryanair country manager for Italy, Mauro Bolla.

Ryanair’s B737-8200s cut noise emission by 40%

In the last 12 months the Irish airline has added over 560 new routes and opened 16 new bases, and is now looking ahead to summer 2022 and the addition of 65 new B737-8200 Gamechanger aircraft to its fleet. These have 4% more seats, save 16% on fuel consumption and cut noise emissions by 40%, making Ryanair's schedule the most exciting and environmentally friendly to date.”