MILAN, Feb. 13 (Class Editori) -- The rule is always the same: great crisis can lead to great opportunities. Someone, during these weeks characterized by the stop to air traffic to and from China, is looking beyond and is working to launch new links. Of course few months will not be enough, but the top management of the airport Federico Fellini in Rimini is aiming at strengthening the links with Asia in a reasonable time span: Iran and China are the priority.
Negotations with Iran Air are being carried out and a deal could be signed at the end of this year. Also other flights which can be of interest for France, Bruxelles, Katowice and Rostov are part of the development plan. The positive data recorded in 2019 is the starting point: almost 400,000 passengers have allowed the Rimini airport to become the second Italian airport in terms of growth (+28.3 percent).
Leonardo Corbucci, CEO of the company which manages the stopover in Rimini, is forecasting that links with China could be introduced in 2022. In the meantime, Fellini can rely on the new link with Vienna starting from next Spring, as well as on the daily flight of the airline Pobeda to Moscow.
Ariminum 2014 is aiming at reaching half million passengers in 2020, while the goal of one million passengers will be expected within some years; Asian Airlines could be the right driver to reach this goal.
Corbucci is focusing on the "good relationships" which have been connecting the region Emilia Romagna and the Republic of San Marino with Chinese authorities for years; in their working plan, many companies based in Emilia Romagna active in China are playing an essential role.
Before the Coronavirus emergency, a bilateral Memorandum between Italy and China has been signed in Beijing, in order to strengthen the relationships and aerial connections. A first agreement has been signed in the wake of the Belt and Road Initiative, a deal which is providing a significantly increase in flights able to almost triple frequencies on a weekly basis, by increasing the number of the routes for cargo companies and by liberalizing the points of destination.
According to the indications arranged between the ENAC (National Civil Aviation Authority) and the CAAC (Civil Aviation Administration of China), starting from the current eight flights per day between Italy and China the capacity of 24 daily flights should be reached in 2023. An increase in cargo flights is also expected.
A 23 million investment plan has to be implemented in the following four years in order to develop the Federico Fellini, aiming at improving the airport capacity and the quality of the services provided to passengers. This is the first step to reach a total amount of expected investments up to 95.5 million euros for the period in 2020-2033, allocated in about 8 years.
Among the works which will be created, the strengthening of links with Fellini airport is standing out. The existing motorway and railway have been integrated with a third connection channel: the "metromare", which has been developed alongside the railway and is connecting Rimini and Riccione railway stations thanks to rubber-tired shuttles. The metromare makes different stops along the journey and one in particular is only 600 metres away from the airport entrance.
Rimini airport is recording an increasing and consolidated growth in flights from and to Russia. It is, indeed, the "most Russian" airport in Italy with five destinations active in the Russian Federation (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Ekaterinburg) and it has still been the best international destination of Pobeda Airlines in 2019.
Corbucci has mentioned several times that Russian Federation is representing the first reference market (54.4 percent), with Moscow as the first destination (43.7 percent) and Ural Airlines as the first airline (23.1 percent).
(Source:Class Editori)
A single purchase
