Passengers departing from Venice airport will pay a €2.50 surcharge on their flight ticket from 1 April 2023, whether they are residents or not. 

The tax will raise gross revenues of €11.5 million annually

The introduction of the tax, according to City Council estimates, will raise a gross revenue of €11.5 million a year. The tax will be collected by the airport's management company, Save, which will receive a commission (an agreement on this still has to be finalised).

“The tax will remain in force for several years” 

"Municipalities with a per capita debt of more than €1,000 can introduce new measures, and the adoption of the boarding tax is subject to the signing of an agreement between the mayor and the president of the Council,” said budget councillor Michele Zuin. 

The tax will remain in force for several years and will be used to pay off the Venice municipality's debt, which amounted to €269 million on 31 December 2020.

Venice airport will close 2022 with 9.2 million passengers 

Meanwhile, for the current winter season up to next 25 March, Venice airport has flights to 73 destinations and operations by 34 scheduled carriers for a total seat capacity in the 2019/20 winter season, similar to that of the last pre-winter season. This confirms the progressive trend of the recovery of traffic volumes which started in the summer and will see Venice airport to close 2022 with 9.2 million passengers, equal to 80% of 2019.

Taipei to Rome three days a weekChina Airlines will return to Rome with a direct flight from Taipei on 26 March 2023, operating three weekly Airbus A350 services from Taiwan. 

After the forced pandemic stoppage, the airline will thus once again be operating the route to Fiumicino with an Airbus A350 three days a week.  The operations from Rome - as stated on the carrier's website – will have departures on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while from Taipei the connections will be on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

The Taiwan airline has connections to many Asian destinations

China Airlines passengers arriving in Taiwan will then be able to take advantage of the company's network of flights to numerous Asian destinations, including Denpasar, Manila, Hanoi and also to Sydney.

Wizz Air, the fastest growing and most eco-friendly airline in the world, is now operating Naples - Abu Dhabi flights.   

Tickets can be purchased on Wizz Air's website and mobile app

The recent launch of the new route further strengthens the company's presence in the Middle East, and in particular in Abu Dhabi, which can currently also be reached thanks to flights from Bari and Catania airports. Tickets for Wizz Air flights can be purchased on its website and via the WIZZ mobile app. 

From Naples airport Wizz Air operates on 26 routes to 15 countries 

Wizz Air, which launched in Italy in 2004, today has a fleet of 173 aircraft, six Italian bases and flights departing from 25 Italian airports. From Naples Capodichino airport, where the airline has been based since July 2021, it operates on 26 routes to 15 countries.

Corporate Communications Manager Daria Sergeeva said:

"We are delighted to officially launch this new route from Naples Airport.  We hope that this will further strengthen the interchange between the two countries."

 

Wizz Air is one of the most sustainable carriers

Wizz Air offers travellers a high degree of flexibility through its WIZZ Flex service, offering an additional layer of protection and allowing passengers to choose to travel on a different date or to a different destination. It also gives them the option to cancel their flight up to three hours before departure without penalty, and get 100% of the original fare immediately refunded in airline credit. The ultra-modern and efficient fleet also reinforces the airline's position as one of the most sustainable airlines and will enable Wizz Air to further reduce its environmental impact by 25% per passenger/kilometre by the end of the decade.

Air India will return to Milan in February, continuing to expand its network with six destinations in Europe and the United States. 

Four weekly flights between Milan and Delhi

The airline will thus return to Milan Malpensa from 1 February 2023; flights will also resume from New Delhi to Copenhagen and Vienna, as well as from Mumbai to Paris and Frankfurt. In the USA, the carrier will inaugurate the new route from Mumbai to New York. On the New Delhi-Milan route the fights will start on 1 February 2023 with four frequencies per week, operated by B787-8 Dreamliners configured with 18 seats in business class and 238 in economy class.

Traffic at Milan Malpensa is picking up

This continues the recovery of intercontinental traffic at Malpensa airport with flows increasingly close to pre-pandemic levels. Things are at last moving on the Asian front as, after the inauguration of Eva Air's direct Milan-Taipei flight, and Air China's announcement for the Wenzhou connection, now it is Air India's turn. 

It’s blue all the way, from the heart of Milan to the capitals of Europe. How? On the new metro line, known as the Blue Line which connects the city centre with Linate airport and the M4.

With the completion of the first section from Linate, Milan’s city airport, to the Dateo stop (and by June 2023 right into central Piazza San Babila), the Lombardy capital will finally be one of the most accessible cities in Europe by air. Because flights from London Heathrow and City, Amsterdam, Paris Charles De Gaulle and Orly, Frankfurt, Brussels and Madrid, to name but a few, will all land at Linate.

At last! Because the line was originally planned to open seven and a half years ago for EXPO 2015.  Last week the automated driverless trains, as on the M5 Lilla line, started serving the first five kilometres of the line, which will be 15 kilometres long and have 21 stations when work is completed in 2024. Then the Blue Line will have 47 trains and carry 24,000 passengers an hour in each direction, for a total of an estimated 86 million people a year. 

The M4 is just one more part of a larger project to expand Milan's metro network, and it has come in for its fair share of delays and rising costs, as well as an announced increase in the price of urban tickets, which currently cost €2 on buses, trams and metro for 90 minutes.  Now the city council wants to double the line to 200 kilometres, with a possible link as far as Monza. Which would make Milan and Monza the first two Italian provinces connected by a metro.

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist

Air China is upping the ante on Milan Malpensa which, from 28 November next, will be connected with a new direct flight to Wenzhou, a port and industrial city in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

 The route will be served once a week with Airbus A330-300 aircraft. The new service is in addition to the other two Air China routes already operated between Italy and China: Milan-Beijing (one flight a week) and Rome Fiumicino-Hangzhou (two flights a week).

Hangzhou-Rome flights have been reinstated

Beijing-Milan currently operates non-stop on the outward flight to the Lombardy capital and via Shenyang on the return, while Hangzhou-Rome is non-stop in both directions and was reinstated last October after being suspended from February 2020 due to the pandemic.

Air China operates on 11 European destinations 

The launch of the Wenzhou-Milan route comes as Air China has resumed flying between Chongqing and Budapest, with weekly flights on Fridays operated by A330-300s, after the return of Beijing-Budapest last July. As of today the Chinese carrier therefore serves 11 destinations in Europe, most of them only once a week due to the strict Chinese travel restrictions still in place.

Milan Malpensa has flights to four Chinese cities

For Milan Malpensa, the route to Wenzhou brings to four the destinations served in mainland China, with Neos flying to Nanjing and Tianjin, and the Air China Beijing flights.

Aeromexico will arrive in Italian skies on 26 March 2023, launching Mexico City-Rome Fiumicino flights.

Initially, the airline will operate three weekly Boeing 787 flights, which will become five weekly on 1 June. With the new flight, Aeromexico's flights between Europe and Mexico will increase by more than 20%  compared to the summer of 2022, totalling 54 weekly frequencies. 

“Improving accessibility between Central-Southern Europe and Central America”

"According to Iata, in 2019 more than 220,000 passengers flew between Italy and Mexico," said Federico Scriboni, Head of Aviation Business Development at Aeroporti di Roma. "We are confident that the launch of this route will help improve accessibility, developing flows and exchanges between Central-Southern Europe and Central America. After a record summer for North American companies, which in October recorded +20% of passengers compared to the same month in 2019, Rome is confirmed as one of the most sought-after destinations also for the summer of 2023".

Important for tourism, cultural exchange and business travel

"The new direct flight between Mexico City and Rome is extraordinary news. It is the result of several years of work and represents recognition by the Aeromexico Group of the potential of bilateral relations between the two countries, -  said the Mexican ambassador to Italy, Carlos García de Alba. -This new route will not only encourage tourism and cultural exchange, but will also serve to promote greater economic and social growth between our countries and is of fundamental importance for business travel.” 

Flydubai is to expand its 2023 network with six new destinations, including two Italian cities, Milan-Bergamo and Cagliari. The other new destinations are Corfu, Hofuf, Krabi and Pattaya. Since the beginning of 2022 the company has operated flights to more than 20 destinations. 

Cagliari Sardinia

Milan Lombardy

“We have 113 destinations now available for booking”

"The Dubai aviation industry has faced a rapid recovery and our agility, coupled with our strong business model, has enabled us to scale up our operations and reach this significant milestone," said Chief Executive Officer Ghaith Al Ghaith. “The addition of these six routes will result in the expansion of Flydubai's network to 113 destinations in 53 countries; an important milestone that represents the largest number of destinations that the company has ever offered.  

“The Dubai-Milan-Bergamo route will operate from 10 March”

The Dubai to Milan-Bergamo route will be operated from 10 March, initially with five flights weekly which will then increase to daily. To Cagliari there will be three flights every week, operating from 22 June 2023.

Italian start-up airline Aeroitalia will soon be flying from Florence, in addition to its Milan Bergamo and Trapani operations. 

"In December we will position a Boeing 737-700 and a leased Atr 72 in Florence. Our short and medium-haul network will consist initially of four or five destinations, including London Heathrow,” says executive vice-president operations Ugo Calvosa. 

 

Ugo Calvosa

A fleet of Boeing 737-800Ngs

Starting in December London will be connected to Milan Bergamo where the airline has won many slots, “thanks to a perfect combination of far-sightedness, boldness and a fair dose of good luck,” adds Calvosa. “Bergamo will be a strategic destination for Aeroitalia's development. Paradoxically we live in a country that attracts tourists like few others, but where Italian airlines carry an absolute minority of inbound traffic. We currently operate with three Boeing 737-800Ngs, but at the end of November a fourth will join us, followed by a fifth at the beginning of December. The sixth will arrive in February and a seventh is also possibly in the pipeline. 

New Boeing 737 Maxs and ATR72s

"We will also get three Boeing 737 Maxs between 2023 and 2024. Most of the aircraft will be positioned at Bergamo airport, with Rome as a secondary base.  And a second ATR72, to the one currently based at Trapani could be added to develop a regional network, which in addition to Italy could include Austria or Switzerland.”

Long-haul charters on the cards

With the target of one million passengers in 2023, the plan is to go long haul.

“We will stay with Boeing, so we are looking at the 787, but delivery times are long, up to 2025. With a bridging solution we could break into long haul so we could start with ad hoc operations next summer, perhaps with charters to destinations like the Maldives, Kenya or Cuba.” 

Inbound operator Italia Highlights will celebrate its first ten years in business with the opening of a Milan office that will develop new corporate contacts as well as activities related to top-end services and products.

The company is also launching the new season with a completely revamped website. Thanks to the “concrete consolidation of the recovery," the aim is "the development of an increasingly top-end product that reaches out to new clients. Our estimated growth for 2023 is +20%,” says Luca Carnesecchi, owner and managing director of the Castagneto Carducci operator, who has 25 years of experience in inbound travel.

Unique tours with charming hotels, villas and residences

The focus is on "Tuscany and the Italy of excellence. Everything is strictly tailor-made, from customized tours for small groups to private events for groups of friends or corporate and incentive gatherings, also working with professional artists and musicians, to independent travelers looking for new experiences." The common denominator is “uniqueness and exclusivity, whether it be the discovery of a winery, or a bike tour along the coast. All complemented by charming accommodation, from classic 4 and 5-star hotels to a selection of private villas with swimming pools, historic residences and boutique hotels in various Italian destinations such as Tuscany, Lombardy, Piedmont and Lazio." 

 

“Relais dei Molini in Bolgheri will get new suites and concierge services”

Like the Relais dei Molini: a charming B&B owned by Italia Highlights with only seven rooms and suites and views from Bolgheri’s world-famous DOC vineyards to the sea. “In the short-medium term we will be adding more suites and concierge services.” Also in the pipeline is the exclusive marketing of a new property, also in Castagneto, set to open in spring 2023.

Partner of the Global Golf Tourism Organization 

The new site, "which is still evolving," fully reflects the operator’s philosophy which is "purely B2B, and aimed at the up-level market segment. We see the site as a way of making our company, product format and programmes known, also through an emotional area called Get Inspired. We are increasingly targeting the luxury segment. Being small we are flexible and able to customize.” Small maybe...but with a turnover of €2 million pre-Covid, and with 2022 the first real year of recovery, “already close to pre-pandemic figures.”  Italia Highlights has also just partnered as a golf tour operator and DMC with Iagto (International Association of Golf Tour Operators) in anticipation of the Ryder Cup which will be held in Rome in 2023.

Touring Italy on Trenitalia’s high-speed trains

Another fundamental element of the leisure programme, which privileges wine tourism and outdoor activities as part of a compendium of varied experiences and activities, are the tours of Italy by train. 'We are one of Trenitalia's main tour operator partners, and our itineraries are a voyage of discovery around the country.  The excellence of the high-speed trains matches our equally excellent experiences and tailor-made services, from arrivals in stations to suitable accommodation and transfers with mini vans.”