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.”

Volotea adds a new destination in France to its network from Olbia: the city of Deauville. The famous seaside resort in the Calvados region, and the gateway for visiting Normandy, will be linked by air to the Sardinian city from 10 May with weekly flights every Tuesday. On offer are more than 6,100 seats, and the new route to Deauville brings to 21 the number of destinations operated from Olbia airport.

In ten years Volotea has brought 1.9 million passengers to Olbia

Since 2012, the date of its debut on Sardinia’s Costa Smeralda coast, Volotea has transported some 1.9 million passengers to Olbia, on a total of 16,200 flights and with a total offer of 2.3 million seats on sale.  "From 10 May passengers departing from the airport will have many convenient options at competitive prices to take off an discover Deauville and Normandy, a very attractive region and suitable for all types of travelers,” said Valeria Rebasti, Volotea’s Country Manager Italy & Southeast Europe.  

Supporting the local economy 

“Thanks to these new flights we will also boost the number of foreign arrivals into Olbia to discover the beauties of Sardinia.  With our flights we are backing tourism on the island, and we are supporting the local economy that suffered so badly in the last couple of years due to the pandemic."

Summer 2022 will see Icelandair open a new seasonal route from Rome Fiumicino, the capital's primary airport, to Reykjavik on the Icelandic coast, the country's capital and largest city.

The connection will operate twice a week on Wednesdays and Sundays from 6 July to 4 September. 

Connections with North Atlantic routes

The new route will also allow passengers traveling for business and leisure the chance to take advantage of travel connections on the Icelandicair network via Reykjavik. The Rome-Reykjavik route will also allow important connections between the Eternal City and North Atlantic routes, allowing transit passengers to take advantage of a stopover in Iceland without any additional airfare. In addition to Rome, the Icelandic airline will launch two other new destinations this summer: Nice and Alicante.

“More choice and convenient connections”

"As we enter 2022, we can see signs of recovery for the travel industry -  said Bogi Nils Bogason, President and CEO of Icelandair – and we are thrilled to be able to add Rome to our already extensive network of destinations. With the addition of Rome, Nice and Alicante for the summer, Icelandair is committed to offering our European and North Atlantic customers more choice and convenient connections."

Rome’s strategic role for the European market

Ivan Bassato, Chief Aviation Officer of Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) added: "We are really pleased to welcome Icelandair to Fiumicino airport. The inauguration of the direct connection to Reykjavik scheduled for the summer confirms the effectiveness of the initiatives implemented by ADR, as well as the strategic role of Rome as a reference for both the European market and the world’s most important cities."

Wizz Air will add two new flights from Italy to the United Kingdom with the introduction in March 2022 of routes from Venice and Palermo to London Gatwick. The airline is also doubling the frequency of flights on the existing route between Milan Malpensa and London Gatwick.

A constant expansion on the Italian market

The two new routes are part of the wider expansion plan from London Gatwick announced by the low cost airline at the end of last year. The new routes, departing from Venice’s Marco Polo and Palermo’s Punta Raisi airports, will be added to the five, announced in December, to Milan Malpensa, Rome Fiumicino, Naples Capodichino, Bari Palese and Catania Fontanarossa airports.

Five weekly Venice-London flights

The Venice-London route will be served by five weekly flights on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays starting from 27 March. The Palermo flights will be twice weekly on Tuesdays and Saturdays from 29 March.

Improved on-board sanitation measures

"These new routes give our passengers even more opportunities to travel safely - said Paulina Gosk, corporate communications manager of Wizz Air - and we would like to emphasize our commitment to offering the lowest possible fares as well as an excellent on-board experience. Moreover, thanks to Wizz Air's improved on-board sanitation measures, passengers will be able to enjoy their journey feeling absolutely safe and comfortable.”

Air Corsica returns to Italy this summer, investing in a new seasonal route from Ajaccio – the company’s home base - to Rome, the only direct air link between the French island and Italy.

The airline will operate the two weekly flights, each Monday and Friday, from 1 July to 29 August. The flights will be operated by Airbus A320s. Air Corsica was the first carrier in France to use it this type of aircraft.

New European routes 

The launch of these seasonal routes is part of Air Corsica’s development plan following two years marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. This includes the opening of new routes to Europe and the restart of those suspended during the health crisis. For the summer of 2022, starting from 2 April, the network will in fact have twelve international routes to six countries. This totals 150,000 seats in addition to the twelve permanent public-service routes and domestic routes outside the public service.

“We are at the heart of Europe” 

"Air Corsica is pursuing its network diversification objectives to go beyond public service routes - said President, Luc Bereni - we are taking on a new dimension that places us at the heart of Europe.” The new 2022 operations position the airline as the leading carrier operating international flights from Corsica, both in terms of the number of routes and of the countries directly connected to the island.

Vueling is gearing up for the Italian summer with five new Paris Orly flights, frequencies on 58 routes to 16 airports and with 11 flights from Florence and 25 from Rome Fiumicino. The network also includes five new routes from Paris Orly, operated for the first time in the summer months from Italy.

These are direct flights, which started operating last November, from Paris Orly to Milan Bergamo, Turin, Genoa, Bologna and Bari.

Vueling flies to 16 Italian airports 

The IAG Group airline also confirms its presence in 14 other Italian airports: Milan Malpensa with 5 flights to Barcelona, Ibiza, Bilbao, Alicante and Paris Orly; Bergamo Orio al Serio with Paris Orly; Catania and Palermo with Barcelona and Florence; Bologna, Bari, Genoa and Turin with Barcelona and Paris Orly; Venice, Naples, Pisa, Olbia, Alghero and Cagliari with Barcelona.

Rome Fiumicino is one of Vueling's international hubs

From Rome Fiumicino, which is one of Vueling's international hubs, the airline offers a total of 25 routes this summer. Among the key flights are direct connections with 10 Spanish cities, including the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, as well as to Greece, Croatia, France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

A global network of 120 destinations in over 30 countries

From Florence, where Vueling has been based since 2012, the airline will offer 11 routes to destinations in Spain, Greece, France, the Netherlands, Denmark and the United Kingdom, in addition to maintaining two domestic frequencies to Catania and Palermo. Globally, the carrier's summer operating schedule – 26 March to 29 October  - includes 120 destinations in more than 30 countries increasing the frequencies, compared to 2021, with a similar capacity to pre-pandemic 2019.

Remember the good old days when the word ghost immediately brought to mind Patrick Swayze and his great performance in the 90s cult film? Nowadays the word ghost rhymes with flights, and is one of the many downsides of the pandemic. Not just for its negative impact on strained airline budgets but - alas even more so - on our increasingly fragile environment.

In order to hold on to their precious airport slots EU regulations require airlines to use a fixed quota, the so-called use-it-or-lose-it rule. Usually hovering around 80%, the pandemic has brought slots down to 50%, though this summer, with a recovery of travel, they should rise to 64%.

Airlines are proud of their commitment to the environmental sustainability of their business, but they now they are having to turn a blind eye to the waste of fuel and the consequent pollution of our skies. The EU  - that same Europe of the Green Deal that aims to become the first climate-neutral continent by 2050 - has quite a different view, saying that consumers need to be protected from cancellations and other such inconveniences. 

In the meantime, with the pandemic still not over, and the demand for travel well below pre-crisis levels, the number of carriers stepping up ghost flights (i.e. with practically no passengers) continues to grow. The question is, can we really afford to go on operating unnecessary flights in a world increasingly pressured by pollution and the climate emergency? 

 

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist