The small Italian airports return to the center of the scene with relaunch projects, private investments and decongestion strategies. Between luxury tourism, light aviation and tailor -made logistics, an underestimated sector is preparing to take off.
They dot our country even though they often find themselves in the center of scarce attentions. They are the little ones airports Italians, who in recent years have conquered a growing interest from private investors, not infrequently foreign, with the aim of supporting luxury hospitality and facilitated personal logistics. To scroll through the map of Italy between abandoned flight fields, private slopes and minor airports, unexpected wealth is discovered, fueled over the years by the passion of amateur drivers and now at the center of a commercial interest. The National Authority for Civil Aviation (ENAC) knows this well, which addresses a new interest in these realities.
“Many small airports» explains Pierluigi Umberto di Palma, president of ENAC “They were grouped by us in a network that includes joints in important urban centers such as Rome Urbe, at the center of a very significant revaluation, but also more peripheral sites, such as those of Arezzo or Foligno”. Or like that of Fano, who over the years has been at the center of a series of challenges, from the auction of some quotas to a series of beghe related to the hectares on which it develops, partly owned by the Municipality and in part of the state property. Today the Marche region – thanks to its strategic position, which allows you to easily reach the Adriatic Riviera, but also internal areas often suffering such as Urbino – aims at the rebirth with the construction of a concrete track and an enhancement linked to an investment of four million euros.
“The process of privatization of airports in our country has now started over 25 years ago and has produced significant results in terms of performance. The results that have occurred in Naples-Capichino or Rome, as regards Fiumicino and Ciampino, tell of remarkable developments that have affected the whole surrounding area “always reason about Palma. The system with which the main airports are managed is quite complex, but it is a strategic segment for our country: the latest data of Assoeroporti highlight the transit along the Italian slopes of over 220 million passengers for a sector that is worth – considering direct, indirect and entire induced impact – almost 4 percent of the national GDP, with over a million jobs. A recent analysis by Nomisma also highlights that for every million units transported (passengers and goods) more, 552 new workers are estimated in the airport and 6,105 new employees at national level. In short, a business that has important repercussions at national level. And that precisely for this reason it is now opening completely unexpected options regarding minor airports.
In fact, there is another market, hardly framed From the data and investigations, which concerns land once used for light aviation or agriculture that are transformed – obviously in a completely legitimate way – for personal or commercial purposes. “The conversion of flight fields in private structures” explains a private pilot from twenty years of experience “allows investors to enhance often underutilized land, creating exclusive infrastructures that increase the value of the property. And it creates new opportunities for us ». In this way the areas with the highest tourist vocation are at the center of unexpected interests. An example? The APRICENA FLY flight field located in Apricena, in the province of Foggia. Mainly intended for ultralight aviation, it would be at the center of an interest by international entrepreneurs to create a luxury logistics. But there is also much more. There is no lack of those who have built a community around the small airport. As for the Aviosuperfrafia domain of Bagnoli in Bagnoli di Sopra, Padua, where the Ali Association promotes and manufactures cultural, recreational and aeronautical events, and has equipped itself with a Club House.
Or like the one that happens to the Court Avosuperficie of Melpignano, a few steps from Lecce, who thanks to the attention of private individuals has been relaunched from a tourist point of view and had an expansion of the infrastructures. Of course, there is no shortage of complicated situations. Emblematic what is happening to Ampurgnano, in Siena airport, which for years has been at the center of a controversy: fundamental according to local politics to support quality tourism -that is, that flow of visitors who bring wealth, and which is increasingly hungry for functional and cutting -edge infrastructures -, she pours into disadvantaged conditions, so much so that many have defined it as a “cathedral in the desert”. For its rebirth, ENAC has allocated one million and 850 thousand euros and the pilot project should return the lymph to this structure responsible for becoming a joint not only for managers of large companies and entrepreneurs, but also for people who move exclusively by plane. “The problem” explains a source of Panorama «It is that the investment cannot be separated from private individuals. To restore this “jewel”, at least 20 million euros are needed ». All the fault of the conditions of abandonment, which often prove to be a minimum common denominator.
«These airports have been left to themselves for years, In some completely abandoned cases, “continues Palma. «Now we are renovating the Rome airport Urbe with the idea of a new tourist organization. Today it is essential to reflect on aerial integration, allowing a decongestion of the main airports in favor of reality with more small dimensions “. An interest that also found the Placet of Confindustria, and that could be synthesized with the provocative mantra: relocating (tourism) is beautiful. The positive effects are manifold. They concern the world of production of veivules compatible with these infrastructures, such as very performing non -pressurized planes, but also the mobility of goods. «We will be able to manage to give an alternative response to the movement via iron or rubber through the air. And in part “concludes Di Palma” this anticipates what we already see in some situations, or transport with drones. In our case, we aim to say that with traditional means we anticipate the future ». Small airport, in small airport. n
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