Driven by the ongoing recovery in post-pandemic travel demand, Italian airports have literally taken off. In fact, the final figures for 2024 show a total of over 219 million passengers, 11.1% more than in 2023, achieving the 2028 target three years earlier than planned.

For the first time since 2019, traffic composition has returned to pre-COVID levels, with domestic travelers making up one-third and international travelers accounting for two-thirds—totaling 146 million passengers in the international segment.

Airports are a strategic sector, accounting for 3.8% of Italy’s GDP and generating 1.3 million jobs. “For every additional million passengers, 552 jobs are generated in the airport sector and 6,105 at a national level,” says Pierluigi Di Palma, president of ENAC (the Italian Civil Aviation Authority), emphasizing how “airports are a driving force for development.”  

Bergamo Airport

In other words, for every euro invested in the Italian airport system, €3.2 are generated in the national economy. Airports, at last also in Italy, are no longer mere transit points but hubs of development that can generate value for the economic and social fabric of the country.  With ever-evolving infrastructure driven by dynamic innovation and transformation, alongside a growing commitment to sustainability.

The warning to policymakers, urging them to give greater consideration to the entire airport sector, comes from Carlo Borgomeo, president of Assaeroporti.

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist

United Airlines has its sights fixed on Italy with major investments, including the new flights to Palermo and plans that extend into 2026. 

“Italy is close to podium level” 

“My personal feeling is that Italy is close to podium level,- says Walter Cianciusi, sales manager United for Italy.  I am betting on Italy whose placement hovers just shy of the podium, having risen considerably in recent years in the ranking of the most important markets for United, with Fiumicino increasingly evolving into a key hub for Southern Europe."

Meanwhile 2025 already brings with it a series of developments...

‘Yes, with the launch of New York-Palermo from 21 May with three weekly flights, then Washington, a prestigious destination, with flights to Venice, and the new route from Denver to Rome, a seasonal flight that adds to the other six already operating from Fiumicino. Rome’s Fiumicino is the fourth airport connected to Denver from Europe, and follows London, Frankfurt and Munich: a choice that once again underlines the significance of the Italian market for United.” 

What is the capacity increase put in place for 2025?

“Italy, as I was saying, is a very important basin, with Rome first and foremost, and the summer of 2025 sees us operating out of five different airports with up to 14 non-stop flights a day between the United States and Italy. This means the annual capacity will grow by 13% over 2024. Rome will consist of +9% and in the height of summer will rise to +18%; flights to Naples will increase by 10% and to Venice  by 77%, while the capacity on Milan Malpensa will remain unchanged. In addition, the company's vast network will be available to Italian passengers once in the US: for example, we will offer over 61 connecting destinations from Newark to passengers arriving from Palermo; 86 for those arriving on flights from Naples, and 208 connecting flights for anyone coming from Rome.”

2025 is also the year of the Jubilee: will this affect the composition of United’s traffic?

“Generally speaking, the US component dominates on our flights and this will probably increase this year.

Premium demand is seen as steadily increasing, is this also the case for you?

“Definitely. While corporate traffic is still a little slow in recovering from the pre-Covid numbers, the leisure passenger travelling in business is closing this gap. We are talking about a demanding customer, who sometimes uses miles to travel in our Polaris class. An incentive to buy this class also comes from the sales strategies that allow upgrading up to two hours before the flight.”  

Are there any innovations for the fleet?

“The big news will be the entry of the A321 XLR, which will change the face of the fleet starting in 2026. They will gradually replace the older B757s as well as some 767s. Another development is the agreement with Starlink for fast internet connection on board our aircraft, which after a test phase this spring on the Embraer 175s, by the end of the year will be available on the main fleet and by 2026 on the entire fleet.” 

The new chapter, still to be written, of the shared history of ITA Airways and Lufthansa officially kicked off on 15 January 2025, at the end of the operation that led LH to acquire a 41% stake in the Italian carrier and contribute the initial €325 million.

ITA’s new board has five members

Two years after the initial expression of interest by the Lufthansa group there is now a new CEO, Jörg Eberhart (German by birth but Italian by adoption, former president of Air Dolomiti) and a new president, Sandro Pappalardo (an Air Force pilot, ENIT advisor and with a past as tourism advisor of the Sicily Region), and a new board of directors. The latter consists of five members: Eberhart and Pappalardo, Antonella Ballone, Lorenza Maggio and Efrem Angelo Valeriani.

new CEO Jörg Eberhart

“A renewed vision of development, innovation and sustainability”

“I am proud and honoured to have been appointed to this prestigious post,- said Eberhart. -After more than two years of hard work, this new chapter in the company's history will allow us to strengthen our position and develop strategic synergies that will enhance the growth and solidity of ITA Airways as a key Italian carrier, ready to guarantee the country greater connectivity and giving passengers a wider choice of destinations, with a renewed vision of development, innovation and sustainability.”

Lufthansa will invest a total of €829 million in ITA

The Ministry of Economy and Finance, which currently holds 59% of ITA's shares, will eventually sell them to the Germans when Lufthansa exercises its options for control between the end of 2025 and 2029. The German group will then be able to acquire a further 49% by paying an additional €325 million.  The final step is expected after 2029, when Lufthansa will be able to exercise its option to acquire the final 10% for €79 million and a total investment of €829 million.

The die is cast. The final signature, a new board of directors, a new managing director and chairman, Joerg Eberhart and Sandro Pappalardo. On 15 January ITA Airways officially fell within the remit of the German colossus which, despite now holding “only” 41% of the capital (the remaining 59% is still in the hands of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance) has practically obtained full control of ITA, effectively holding the operational roles, primarily that of managing director.

Fine. Now the ball is truly in the hands of the Germans who will need to showcase on the ground all the untapped potential of the carrier reborn from the ashes of the old Alitalia. Of which, let’s not forget, it holds the glorious brand, purchased in 2021 to the sum of €90 million.

Carsten Spohr, CEO of the Lufthansa group, said in the days immediately preceding the closing that “ITA is the biggest acquisition in the history of Lufthansa. Without the prospect of a nine-figure profit contribution, we would not have taken this step.”  High hopes consequently for ITA which, according to the industrial plan agreed with the Germans, should make a profit as early as 2025, the Jubilee year, from which a significant increase in traffic at Rome Fiumicino is expected. Strategic synergies to be created with the group's other carriers - Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and Eurowings – are estimated at generating savings of around €300 million. 

The Roman hub is where LH's ambitions are centered, as from here the ITA network to Africa and South America will see an increase in frequencies, with new routes to Bogotà in Colombia and other destinations in Brazil. At the same time unprofitable routes will be abandoned to concentrate on more profitable segments, such as the leisure market and Eastern Europe. The aim being to intercept passenger demand towards North America, centered specifically on long-haul flights from Fiumicino. And Air Dolomiti, the historic Italian jewel that has been a member of the German group for 26 years, will additionally be tasked with transporting passengers to ITA's intercontinental flights

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist

The end of 2024 coincides with the closing of the circle on the ITA Airways-Lufthansa versus EU Antitrust affair. On 29 November Brussels gave its unconditional approval to the transaction with the two parties entering into an agreement and the German group acquiring an initial 41% stake in ITA's capital.

Having closed a chapter, that to describe as tormented would be an oversimplification, 2025 will start for the newborn group with a new industrial plan. But not before mid-January when Lufthansa and the Italian Ministry of the Economy (still ITA's sole shareholder) will have signed the deal and both partners will start writing new chapters of a shared history that, from that day forward, will culminate with the total integration between ITA and Lufthansa, probably within a couple of years.

Concretely the first steps will be towards the start-up of codeshare flights with the members of the LH group (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings/Discover) and the networking of the respective loyalty programmes (Volare and Miles&More). The Germans consider all-round cost optimization and the enhancement of ITA's revenue management—two of its weakest areas—to be their primary focus.

Within the framework of the group's future multi-hub system, a new role will be played by Air Dolomiti, the Italian airline of the LH group, indicated as a feeder for ITA's long-haul flights departing from Rome Fiumicino. "However, there will also be ongoing work with SkyAlps, a regional airline based in Bolzano (Alto Adige), which could instead feed Fiumicino from medium-small airports. And while efforts to define a new network continue without pause - between expansion on the one hand and the revision of unprofitable or non-strategic routes on the other – the new year promises to bring exciting developments.

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist

It was a ribbon-cutting day at Malpensa with All Nippon Airways' first flight from Tokyo Haneda to Milan Malpensa. 

Milan is important for business and leisure traffic

This debut puts an end to the long wait for the inauguration of what is the only direct connection between Japan and Milan, originally scheduled for March 2020 and then postponed due to the outbreak of the pandemic.

“Milan is a key destination for ANA in Europe, both in terms of business and leisure traffic, and is a privileged gateway to Italy for Japanese travellers,’ said the company's CEO, Shinichi Inoue. “ Japan is a very popular destination among Italians, who are currently the fourth largest market in Europe for the number of arrivals. The new flight will certainly also be instrumental in strengthening commercial and industrial relations between Italy and Japan, which are already very solid.”

An early morning arrival in Tokyo Haneda

The route is operated three times weekly, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, with a Boeing 787-9 configured with 215 seats. “The early morning arrival in Tokyo allows our passengers, especially business travellers, to be able to enjoy the whole day. In addition, from Haneda, it is possible to continue via the ANA network to numerous domestic destinations and the Asia-Pacific region.”

Malpensa and Japan

“ANA's decision to introduce flights to Milan Malpensa further confirms the industry's strong interest in the potential of the Milan and Northern Italy catchment area. After 14 years, Malpensa once again welcomes the livery of a Japanese carrier, and today Tokyo is once again reachable with a non-stop flight, for the first time on the large Haneda hub,” said Luigi Battuello, SEA's chief commercial officer.

“A total of 27 destinations in Asia for Milan”

“In the last 12 months, transit passengers between Milan and Tokyo have totalled 200,000, a figure that rises to 300,000 if we consider Japan as a whole. With Tokyo, the number of Asian destinations rises to 27, and it is thanks to them that this year the Milanese airport system (Malpensa and Linate Ed.) welcomed a record number of 33, 2 million passengers in the first ten months of the year, up by +11% over 2019 and 2023.” 

The British clow-cost is ready to open two new bases in Italy from the end of March 2025: Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino.

Linking Linate with airports in Europe

The two new bases will be added to Malpensa and Naples,  where eight aircraft will be positioned. EasyJet is thus responding to the request to guarantee connections for three years between Linate and Fiumicino and some airports in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Austria, offsetting the risk of monopoly by Ita-Lufthansa on the same routes. 

Three ITA A302s on wetlease

Thus easyJet’s future as a  remedy maker takes on precise contours, close to the green light from the EU Antitrust Authority, expected very soon, to the marriage between ITA Airways and Lufthansa. Regarding the fleet, of the eight Airbuses, at least three will be A320s made available by ITA Airways under a wetlease agreement. The opening of the two bases is subject to the approval of the Ita-Lufthansa transaction by the European Commission. 

Increased frequencies and optimized schedules

As for the network, in addition to the 10 European routes included in the ITA-Lufthansa solutions, the airline is preparing to increase frequencies and optimize schedules on already active routes: from a greater number of flights between Linate and London Gatwick to the opening of new destinations in the United Kingdom, continental Europe and various leisure destinations.

Over 20 million seats on the Italian market

More than 20 million seats will be on sale to and from Italy on a total of 234 routes, 29 of which will be launched in the 2024 fiscal year: this is the snapshot of easyJet's positioning in Italy. In the fiscal year that has just closed (last 30 September) the company confirmed itself as the leading carrier at Malpensa, with a capacity of 8.6 million seats (up 8%) on 67 routes.

Investing in its Malpensa training centre

easyJet recently presented, in collaboration with CAE, a further investment in its Malpensa training centre with the addition of a new simulators dedicated to training the company's crews, further consolidating the airport's role as easyJet's main continental hub. At its Naples base  the carrier offered 3.7 million seats on 49 routes, up 13%.

Latam Airlines is relaunching in Italy with 12 weekly flights to Milan and Rome.

Italy is Latam’s 3rd European market

“Italy is the third most important market in Europe, behind Spain and the United Kingdom, with which the difference is minimal,” and this winter the airline is increasing the capacity on offer, said Davide Ioppolo, regional commercial director for Europe, the Middle East and South Africa.  

Over 300,000 Italian passengers since January

“We will operate five frequencies a week from both Milan and Rome to Sao Paulo, which from November will increase to six from both airports. Compared to pre-pandemic 2019 - when we operated only from Milan and with a smaller aircraft - we find ourselves with almost double the number of seats. Since the beginning of the year we have carried around 300,000 passengers on the two Italian routes, with an average load factor of around 93-94%, and this summer the increase in travellers was +30%.”

Load factors above 90% levels

The 2024 closure forecast for the Italian market points to “400,000 passengers, while globally we will reach 80 million.”  And for next year which in Italy will be a Jubilee Year, estimates are also positive: “demand is very healthy and forecasts for the future equally so. In a couple of years, we could see a slowdown at a global level: but the problems related to aircraft deliveries will affect the industry, leading to a sort of balancing act with the lower demand allowing us to maintain prices and load factors above 90%, levels we have been accustomed to over the last two years.”  

Most sales pass through travel agencies

The collaboration with the agency channel is a constant strategy: “this is where the majority of sales pass through and we are also close to the agencies with training activities.  The increase in sales from the trade - adv, retail and consolidators - stands at +25-30% and South America still has a very strong and partly unexplored growth potential: this is why it is essential to join forces, not only with the airline and the tourism board, but with the entire supply chain.”  

Never will it be truer than in 2025 that all roads lead to Rome. And the same can be said for all air routes. The eagerly awaited Jubilee will be a magnet for the Eternal City, which will once again be an incredible sounding board for Catholics - and not only - from all over the world. The forecasts? We are talking about something like 35 million arrivals to Rome alone (there were 21 million in 2023, 8% more than in the 2019 pre-Jubilee). 

These numbers will undoubtedly put a strain on the city's infrastructure, starting with its airports, but that is not discouraging US carriers which they have already begun implementing their largest operations to date. The increases in capacity planned for next year, and especially for the summer, seem to be the apotheosis of a rising parabola that started post-pandemic, and that for now shows no sign of easing, even in terms of travel demand. Demand that seeks solutions through increased frequencies to well-established destinations - Rome and Milan chiefly - but also with the launch of alternatives in the rest of Italy, for example Palermo and Catania in Sicily. 

All of this despite an industry continually challenged by the difficulty of sourcing new aircraft, which is an essential element of capacity growth. So be it: Italy becomes, as in the case of Delta Air Lines, the main European market in which to invest (a +10% capacity increase already deployed) with the launch of four new routes, Catania-New York, Naples-Atlanta, Milan Malpensa-Boston and Rome Fiumicino-Minneapolis. 

Little will change at United Airlines, which will launch the New York-Palermo route alongside the direct flights already operating on Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Naples, and Venice with a Washington-Venice flight in addition to the Newark-Venice. For American Airlines 2025 will bring new daily routes from Philadelphia to Milan Malpensa, and from Miami to Rome: the latter bringing to six the number of US airports linked directly to Fiumicino. And American Airlines will also increase the frequency of flights on routes already operating on Rome, Naples and Venice, making 2025 the summer with the most extensive operations to Italy in the carrier’s history.

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist