Italy is allocating €5 million to support the promotion of Calabria, Sardinia and Sicily on the wake of Cyclone Harry.

A “positive counter-attack” to the cyclone

“Promptness makes the difference”: so say the Ministry of Tourism and ENIT which are launching a “positive counter-narrative” on the situation in Calabria, Sardinia and Sicily after Cyclone Harry, which weakened the international tourism visibility of a highly strategic area in Southern Italy.

The ministry will allocate €5 million to support tourism

“The ministry will allocate €5 million to support tourism in the areas affected by Cyclone Harry,- said Tourism Minister Daniela Santanchè during the conference held yesterday at the BIT travel exhibition in Milan.  “Welcome to Southern Italy. Sicily, Calabria and Sardinia: the wonder never stops” is the slogan that will support the promotional campaign and the participation of these three regions at all international fairs.  

Promotions at the most important travel fairs

The aim is to send a clear message to potential Asian and American tourists about the accessibility and possibility of visiting these areas as early as spring and then, of course, in summer. " We must safeguard our tourist destinations — including in terms of communication and storytelling — to ensure that the harm already suffered is not intensified by narratives that inflict further, unfair, and potentially irreversible damage to their image. And so we will promote these regions in the most important markets so that they do not lose a single tourist.” The next event is the ITB in Berlin (3-5 March), where the Ministry of Tourism, ENIT and the regions concerned will introduce promotional initiatives in support of the destinations affected by the cyclone. “Germany is the leading market for Calabria and Sardinia and the second largest for Sicily."

The Ministry will work with ENIT and the three regions

Communications will primarily involve the web: “Tourism is a highly digitized sector, so an efficient message is needed to reach millions of people”. Global content creators will be engaged, and there will be ad hoc media tours in the main markets of the three regions, such as the USA, the United Kingdom, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, the Czech Republic, France, Benelux, Spain and Austria. Minister Santanché will be joined by ENIT’s CEO Ivana Jelinic, the councillors for tourism of the Sicily Region, Elvira Amata, and the Sardinia Region, Franco Cuccureddu, as well as the president of the Calabria Region, Roberto Occhiuto.

Jelinic: “We must not allow reality to be distorted”

“Sicily, Calabria and Sardinia are unique destinations that attract tourists from all over the world every year, and we must preserve them by telling their story in the right way,- added Ivana Jelinic. -We must not allow reality to be distorted; With commitment and transparency, we aim to share an accurate and authentic narrative of these territories, encouraging travellers to immerse themselves in what they have to offer, investing locally also giving a boost to the local economy."

Amata: “We must turn the emergency into a great opportunity”

President Occhiuto called for “the promotion of tourism in the regions to be included in the framework of Italian promotion: we should use the 'Italy driver” to promote Calabria, given that foreigners often do not know where it really is.” “Sicily is here and we are expecting many visitors,- said Elvira Amata -We must turn the emergency into a great opportunity for renewed communication. Sicily is so much more: seven UNESCO sites, coastline, parks and protected areas. We are working hard on experiential tourism, on sustainable proposals such as cycle paths, horse trails and the Day of Walks (12 April 2026) to deseasonalize and delocalize, showing our lesser-known side.”

Sardinia has 18 new UNESCO Sites

Cuccureddu emphasized the importance of effective communications. “In recent months Sardinia has achieved historic goals: 18 new UNESCO sites, among the 25 best destinations in the world selected for 2026 by Lonely Planet and the only European region in the ‘Best in Travel 2026’ category. We have the most beautiful beach in the world and this year, for the first time, a direct flight from the US. But  then the cyclone hit and what happened? Those who has booked for this summer ask for pictures of our beaches because they think they no longer exist." The reality is different, and it deserves to be told.”

American Airline is on track, with record operations on Italian routes planned for the summer season.

“Up to 13 daily flights from the United States”

Summer 2026 will be a new record-breaking season for American Airlines' schedule in Italy, where “we are expecting our most extensive operations ever,” says José Freig, VP international and inflight dining operations American Airlines. The US airline will have “up to 13 daily flights from the United States, a record-breaking service that will include connections to Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Naples and Venice.” At Milan Malpensa airport, the airline will operate up to three flights a day, setting “an absolute record for the northern Italian airport."

Fares remain competitive

A careful look at the market shows that there is extremely high demand on routes between the United States and Italy, which leaves little room for excess capacity. But currently “fares remain competitive. Italy is one of the most popular summer destinations for US travellers, and we continue to expand our presence here to meet the growing number of people eager to discover its culture, history and vibrant food scene.”

“Growing loyalty among Italian passengers”

Certainly challenges lie ahead: “Airlines around the world will continue to face the challenge of rising costs, a trend that will not disappear in the short term. But the opportunities we see in the Italian market are significant: we are seeing growing loyalty among Italian passengers, the expansion of our network and a steadily increasing number of travellers seeking premium experiences. We are responding to this demand with the introduction of new aircraft, new lounges and additional benefits for AAdvantage® members."

The summer schedule

The schedule for the summer includes daily Rome Fiumicino flights from New York (JFK); year-round daily from Philadelphia (PHL); daily from Chicago (ORD); daily from Charlotte (CLT); daily from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW) and daily from Miami (MIA). For Milan Malpensa, flights will be daily from New York (JFK); daily from Philadelphia (PHL) and daily (new for 2026) from Miami (MIA). For Venice Marco Polo there will be daily flights from Philadelphia (PHL) and from Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW), while for Naples-Capodichino the flights from Philadelphia (PHL) will be daily, as will those from Chicago (ORD. 

Olbia will be one of the three new destinations served by BA Cityflyer this summer.

BA Cityflyer's route map nears 30 destinations

The airline, wholly owned by British Airways, will fly from London Stansted to Olbia in Sardinia, from London City to Toulon Saint-Tropez and from Glasgow to San Sebastián. With these three new additions, BA Cityflyer's route map will grow to almost 30 destinations across Europe.

Also London City to Olbia

The Olbia route will operate between 23 May and 27 September 2026, with two weekly flights on Saturdays and Sundays. BA Cityflyer will also launch a seasonal summer route in May 2025 from London City to Olbia, complementing the new service from London Stansted. In practice, the carrier will fly to Olbia up to five times a week in summer 2026 from London City and twice a week from London Stansted.

All flights have a Club Europe cabin

"Olbia from Stansted Airport is perfect for a holiday delighting in the crystal-clear waters and beautiful Mediterranean landscapes of Sardinia, and it complements British Airways' existing services from London City and Heathrow airports, offering even more choice and flexibility to those planning their summer holidays in 2026.”  All flights include a Club Europe (business class) cabin, which offers more personal space, additional baggage allowance, priority boarding and a selection of delicious meals with full service.

A few days before the opening of the Winter Olympics in Milan-Cortina, Malpensa Airport has posted a surge in passenger traffic, having already welcomed some 1,400 travellers.

There are 77 delegations at the Games 

These included athletes and technical staff, with 2,800 pieces of hold luggage, 1,400 items of sports equipment and 1,600 oversized items of luggage (including hockey sticks, boots, skates, bicycles and crates containing food and medicines). There are 77 delegations represented at the Games, with the largest groups from the United States (350), Korea (100), Japan (50) and Finland (50). 

53 heads of state will attend the event 

Added to these numbers are the 4,600 journalists, media operators and representatives of the Olympic Committees, with 7,200 pieces of luggage, and the 200 VIP guests of the Olympic family, sponsors and 53 heads of state and government, who complete the flow of international arrivals.

200 volunteers provide support 

The recently refurbished Terminal 1 has been equipped to handle the high influx of passengers and the handling of special materials. 200 SEA volunteers have been called in to support operations on a daily basis Alongside the airport’s operational staff,  to welcome athletes and assist their teams. To ensure efficiency and speed of operations, 300 special trolleys are being used to transport sports equipment and technical materials.

A 24-hour Action Room monitors flows

Milan Malpensa is not only a point of arrival, but also the first point of contact with Italy for athletes and delegations: official passes are collected at the airport, equipment checks are carried out and logistics are coordinated for transfer to the Olympic villages and competition venues. The coordination is entrusted to the Action Room, a 24-hour, logistics operations centre where SEA staff, official supporter of the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, work closely with the Milan Cortina 2026 Foundation. Here arrival flows are monitored and analyzed in order to plan all operations, integrating information on air traffic, transport and security, ensuring efficiency and speed in the movement of people and materials.

Telling the emotional stories behind the Games 

Milan Malpensa is also becoming a communications hub for the Games thanks to the MXP Media Lab, a SEA project in collaboration with IULM University and Unimi. This involves a dedicated team of nine students who are providing support to SEA's communications department in the production of editorial content (photographs and videos) that tells the story of the happenings and the emotions associated with Milan Cortina 2026.

The ribbon has been cut for the new rail link between Terminal 2 at Milan Malpensa Airport and Gallarate, on the Sempione railway line. 

Milan Central Station to Gallarate

The project was promoted, coordinated and managed by Ferrovienord, a company belonging to the FNM group. From 23 January, all Trenord Malpensa Express trains departing from Milan Central Station will arrive in Gallarate via Terminals 1 and 2 of Milan Malpensa Airport and make the same journey in the opposite direction, departing from Gallarate.

Gallarate to the airport in eight minutes

With this new service it will be possible to reach the airport from Gallarate in eight minutes (Terminal 2) and 15 minutes (Terminal 1), compared to the half hour previously required. The project represents the completion of rail access from the north to Malpensa and is part of the EU's “Global Project” Malpensa T1 - Malpensa T2 - Sempione line, which has been operating since 2016 between Terminals T1 and T2. The completion of this project therefore enhances routes to the Milan area, making them more efficient, faster and more sustainable. The airport thus becoming an interchange hub with short- and medium-range, high-speed and cross-border rail services.

“Better service to Milan” 

“SEA is celebrating this important project, not only because it creates a direct and fast rail link with Gallarate, an important city in the Malpensa area, but also because it lays the foundations for completing the railway upgrade around the airport through works that will involve the expansion of rail links between the airport and the northern part of the country, including Switzerland. Enabling better service to Milan and facilitating the introduction of high-speed trains, it is a fundamental part of the infrastructural upgrade to make Malpensa not only an airport hub, but also an intermodal hub for the country.” said Armando Brunini, CEO of SEA Milan Airport.s

Starting before the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympics 

The inauguration of the project is due to take place shortly before the Milan Cortina 2026 Olympic and Paralympic Games, during which air traffic is expected to “experience a peak increase, especially in tourism, not unlike what is generally seen in July.”  Andrea Severini, CEO of Trenord, added: ‘Today we are taking delivery of the result of years of work. The new connection speeds up travel between Gallarate and the airport and increases connections from Varese, Porto Ceresio and Lake Maggiore.”

EasyJet is further expanding its network in Italy for summer 2026 with new routes from France and the UK to Cagliari, Bari, Rome.

The first domestic flights from Milan Linate to Brindisi

Starting in March new routes will be introduced to Cagliari, Bari and Rome Fiumicino, strengthening connections with some of the most popular destinations in France and the United Kingdom. Then, in June, the airline's first domestic connection between Milan Linate and Brindisi will debut. The summer schedule also includes the launch, on 30 March, of the Rome Fiumicino-Newcastle route, scheduled twice a week, every Monday and Friday.

Milan Linate is a new base

From 23 June 2026, it will be possible to reach Brindisi from Milan Linate with four weekly flights on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. This is the first domestic route operated from the new Milan base, which will open in spring 2026, expanding the range of connections between the Lombardy capital and Puglia already provided by Milan Malpensa.

Two weekly Manchester-Bari flights

From 3 July Bari will also be connected to Manchester with two weekly flights, on Mondays and Fridays. Finally, from 23 June 2026, Cagliari airport will see the arrival of two international connections from France: the first will link Bordeaux ro Cagliari with flights every Tuesday and Friday. On the same day, the new route from Nice will also start, operating on Tuesdays and Saturdays, connecting the lively Côte d'Azur to Sardinia. With these new additions, Cagliari airport will be able to count on connections from four French cities, adding Bordeaux and Nice to the already established Lyon and Paris routes.

Ryanair is investing in Milan (but not in Rome) this summer 2026. 

Three new aircraft at Malpensa and Bergamo airports 

The focus is on costs, which must remain “competitive, and are an important strategic lever that allows Ryanair to offer increasingly attractive fares to its passengers.” said Eddie Wilson, CEO of the Irish low-cost airline in Milan recently, outlining the investments in Malpensa and Bergamo for summer 2026. The two bases will see the addition of “three aircraft for a total of 33, which will serve 156 routes, including seven new routes, with the aim of carrying 20.3 million passengers per year, about 9% more than in 2025”.

Four new routes from Malpensa and three from Bergamo

Milan Bergamo will see the addition of two new aircraft, bringing the total to 24, and three new routes to Lemnos (Greece), Pescara and Rabat; the low-cost airline estimates 14 million passengers (+6%) at the Bergamo airport. Malpensa will have one more aircraft (9 in total) and four new routes: Edinburgh, Plovdiv (Bulgaria), Tirana and Warsaw. The airport is targeting six million passengers, a growth of +15%.

“We would carry 20 million more passengers per year”

“We are growing significantly at both Lombardy airports: we have worked closely with SACBO and SEA to make this growth possible, showing that competitive conditions and efficient operations are essential to unlock real growth,- says Wilson. -This is why we are reiterating our appeal to the Italian government to cancel the municipal surcharge. This has already happened in several Italian regions, a list that is growing: after Friuli, Abruzzo, Calabria and Sicily, it now also includes the small airports in Emilia Romagna. If the Italian government abolished the tax we would be ready to operate 250 additional routes with 40 more aircraft at Italian bases to carry 20 million more passengers per year."

The situation at Rome's airports

Rome's competitive disadvantage is penalized “by excessively high taxes - almost €50 per passenger - which make Rome's airports inadequate compared to other European airports”, said Wilson who added that in 2026 Rome will not see any growth due to the cap on the number of flights at Ciampino and the excessive airport charges applied by ADR (+44% at Ciampino and +15% at Fiumicino by 2028). “These anti-growth policies are making Rome increasingly less competitive compared to other major capitals such as London, which does not impose flight limits, and compared to EU countries such as Sweden, Hungary and Slovakia or certain Italian regions, where governments are actively reducing aviation taxes to stimulate traffic, tourism and employment.”  Due to excessive access costs, Rome and some Italian regions – particularly the islands – are experiencing a reduction in connectivity, with legacy carriers reducing capacity on domestic routes. In practice, the Roman summer will include 16 based aircraft (10 at Fiumicino and 6 at Ciampino), for a total of 75 routes served (52 of which at Fiumicino) and a forecast of 10.6 million passengers per year.

32 Italian airports and 800 routes in Italy

Ryanair has every intention of maintaining its position as number one in terms of passenger traffic in Italy: the low-cost airline dominates our market with 32 airports served (including 20 bases, including the new one in Trapani from January 2026), 800 routes (40 of which are new) and a target of carrying 69 million passengers per year. On a European level, with 96 bases and 224 airports served in 36 countries, the company aims to reach “207 million in the 2026 financial year and then rise to 300 million in 2034”.

Rimini, which is on the hunt for new European and international visitors, has presented its new "Rimini 4 Seasons Collection. More than a city. More than a destination" campaign from VisitRimini.

Rimini is focusing on congresses and trade fairs

Figures show that in 2024 “Rimini and its province recorded 3.7 million arrivals, for 15 million overnight stays,-  says Rimini municipal sport and culture councillor Michele Lari. -Of these 7.5 million just in the city; international arrivals, in particular, recorded a growth of +8%. The first 2025 figures are comforting: from January to August growth is +0.6% over 2024 and +10% over 2023. In the first half of the year alone, the increase is +6.1% over the same period last year. Numbers that highlight an ongoing deseasonalization, and the focus on new tourism targets: no longer just the seaside, but congresses and trade fairs linked to sport and culture".

“Foreign visitors at Infopoints even in October” 

“There is a strong focus on foreign visitors, who in 2024 represented the “33-35% of the total number of visitors,- said  Coralie Delaubert, VisitRimini destination manager. -And this summer, thanks also to the expansion of flights operating to and from Rimini airport - for example, we had as many as three airlines operating from London - the numbers have grown. As they have also from the Polish and Hungarian markets, alongside the historic German market. The numerous geo-localized promotions have given ample feedback, with many foreign visitors at our infopoints, even in October, which is a sign that the season has lengthened.”

Eyeing the US market for weddings, MICE and tourism

 “We are thinking about moving beyond Europe and are aiming first and foremost at the US  market which, we know, is very sensitive to Federico Fellini., an iconic Rimini figure. VisitRimini also has a tender from the Municipality for the management of civil ceremonies in municipal venues, so we are presenting ourselves as a wedding planner, a segment where there is very high potential. We want to be a benchmark for those who want to organize wedding, MICE or tourism events in our area. So the US can be a very important market for us.” Strong international visibility will be ensured on the occasion of Routes Europe, “scheduled from 13 to 15 May 2026,  and a truly important opportunity to make Rimini known, while potentially increasing flights into Rimini airport.”