It’s not just Naples that’s getting all the attention. This time it’s Palermo, and Sicily, with a new transatlantic route. Another prized piece of that Southern Italy which has always been - this year even more so - on the bucket list of overseas visitors. And this time Neos is moving in, ready to bring back direct flights between New York and the Sicilian capital where, this year from January to September, international traffic topped 30% of total transits.
The Alpitour group's airline is not the first to try its hand at the route; the first seasonal flights were introduced by Eurofly in 2005 and kept going with excellent results for over ten years, until 2018 - when the carrier had already entered Meridiana’s orbit, but that's another, very Italian, story! Now the bet is on Neos, which sees this as an important opportunity for the whole of Sicily, both for inbound and outbound traffic.
"We are waiting to hear from Palermo airport," said Carlo Stradiotti, the carrier's managing director last week, emphasising the urgency of an answer to give concrete form to the project. The airline, which already operates direct flights from New York JFK to Milan Malpensa (inaugurated in the summer of 2021) is preparing to close the 2022-23 financial year on 31 October with a turnover "of €750 million" compared to the €573 million of the previous financial year "thanks chiefly to the increase in the offer of 30-40% over 2019."
Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist
