Italians continue to fly low cost. In 2024, according to Enac data analyzed by Il Corriere.it over 61.3 million passengers flew with Ryanair.
After ITA eome Air Dolomiti, Aeroitalia, Neos and SkyAlps
ITA Airways overtook easyJet in second place with the British low-cost airline in third place, followed by Wizz Air and Vueling. The ENAC report also highlights the positioning of the other Italian airlines: after ITA there are Air Dolomiti, with about 2.4 million passengers; Aeroitalia (2.36 million) and Neos (2.23 million). At the bottom of the Italian ranking SkyAlps, based in Bolzano, carried just under 149,000 travellers.
Sicily is the queen of domestic destinations
In terms of most frequented routes, in Italy Sicily is always the queen of destinations, particularly from Milan (Malpensa, Linate, Bergamo) and Rome. The busiest domestic route is Fiumicino-Catania with just under 2 million travellers (in both directions), followed by Fiumicino-Palermo with about 1.7 million. In third place comes Fiumicino-Linate, which is back above one million.
Spain is the leader on international markets
Beyond the national borders Spain takes top position with Rome Fiumicino-Madrid close to two million passengers and also surpassing the main domestic route (Fiumicino-Catania); followed by Fiumicino-Barcelona which is the second busiest route with 1.7 million. In third place it is Barcelona again, departing from Milan Malpensa (just under 1.3 million).
Outside the EU, Fiumicino-New York JFK is number one
Outside the European Union, the busiest route is Fiumicino-New York JFK with 1.1 million travellers; this is followed by Fiumicino-London Gatwick (about 930,000) and Milan Malpensa-Gatwick (780,000). Then follows Malpensa-JFK with 760,000 and Milan Bergamo-Tirana also appears in the top ten with 700,000, the result of the low-cost boom between the two countries. Overall, last year over 182 million passengers boarded domestic, international and intercontinental flights to and from Italy: of these 36.2 million were on domestic flights and the rest on foreign flights.
