MILAN CLOSES IN ON FULL RECOVERY
SEA Milan Airports, which operates the city’s Malpensa (MXP) and Linate (LIN) airports, expects traffic to surpass pre-pandemic levels during the summer 2023 season.
Milan Linate has already exceeded 2019 European traffic volumes, while Milan Malpensa is currently operating at -5% compared to 2019. However, Andrea Tucci, VP of aviation business development, noted a positive trend, saying the gap was closing “month by month.” He added: “The recovery is significant in terms of destinations: While in Europe, America, North Africa and the Middle East, the recovery is complete, in Asia and the Far East it is accelerating. Notably, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific and Air India from Delhi have returned.
“Our network map has also witnessed the addition of new destinations, including Bahrain, Amman, Taipei, Chicago and Montreal. Air China has resumed operations, with the inclusion of Wenzhou to complement the traditional services to Beijing and Shanghai.”
The summer of 2023 will witness an increase of over 50% in long-haul capacity. In total, there will be 28.5 million seats offered from SEA Milan Airports, with 20 million of them from Malpensa Airport.
Looking ahead, Tucci outlined that the introduction of new technologies from aircraft manufacturers will be crucial for thinner routes being launched from Milan and extending seasonal services throughout the year.
He said the Far East, including Japan, China and India, holds particular interest, although certain external factors such as the ban on Russian airspace and fleet utilization recovery may present challenges in the short term. However, Tucci expressed optimism about the Chinese market's untapped potential and anticipated the return of connections to Thailand.
“Once we get back to 2019 figures, we expect a resurgence on the familiar upward trajectory we were accustomed to before the pandemic thanks to the attractiveness of Milan and the opportunities presented by its catchment area,” Tucci said.
Meet SEA Milan Airports at stand E10.
DERRY BUOYED BY HEATHROW LINK
City of Derry Airport’s (LDY) new London Heathrow (LHR) service will be a gamechanger for the Northern Ireland airport, according to managing director Steve Frazer.
Loganair switched its Public Service Obligation route connecting City of Derry and London Stanstead to London Heathrow on May 6 after securing access to 30 additional pairs of slots each week under a lease arrangement with British Airways (BA). Flights on the LDY-LHR route will be up to 3X-daily using Embraer E145 aircraft. Frazer said the route “matches the ambition and potential of the region we serve.”
“The economic and strategic importance of the airport, now with LHR as a hub, provides a missing link to achieve increased growth of foreign direct investment in the region and offers even greater tourism opportunities.”
Loganair entered into a lease agreement with BA in March for the 30 weekly slots, which were previously used by the now-defunct Flybe. Changes to Heathrow’s tariffs for regional aircraft operating on UK domestic routes, which took effect on Jan. 1, are important to the viability of Loganair’s plans to provide regional connectivity at the airport, the carrier said.
After securing the new London link, Frazer said establishing flights to Birmingham, Edinburgh and Dublin are among City of Derry’s key targets.
MIDDLE EAST CONNECTION AMONG TALLINN’S TARGETS
Tallinn Airport (TLL), Estonia, is gearing up for a summer of expansion and increased connectivity as it prepares to welcome new routes and actively seeks to strengthen its links to the Middle East.
CITY OF DERRY AIRPORT
“We are happy to welcome seven new services this summer and a new airline Marabu in the market to satisfy this travel demand,” CCO Eero Pärgmäe said. He added the addition of these new routes reflects the airport's commitment to meeting the growing demand for travel and offering passengers a diverse range of destinations.
Looking ahead, Pärgmäe emphasized the airport's next targets include expanding its connections to the Middle East. “In Tallinn, we need to focus on the connectivity needs for the whole country, including business traffic as well as incoming tourism and outgoing leisure travel," he said.
“This means that our primary target is to make sure we have frequent services to a wide variety of hubs to ensure global connectivity and a network of European low-cost operations. As one of the next steps and to respond to the increasing demand, our focus is on direct connections to the Middle Eastern hubs."
Recent successes for Tallinn include airBaltic launching new routes to Heraklion and Rhodes in Greece, as well as Dubrovnik and Split in Croatia.
Meet Tallinn Airport at stand B50.
AENA UPBEAT AS PEAK SUMMER APPROACHES
AENA, which manages 46 airports across Spain, expects capacity across its airports to be around 221.8 million seats during the summer 2023 season, a rise of 4.4% compared with 2019. Additionally, the group’s airports will have 2,950 nonstop routes, marking an increase of 39 on pre-pandemic levels.
Irene Gracia, head of airport marketing and international relations at AENA, said the company plans to promote unserved and underserved markets in Europe from all airports at Routes Europe 2023, as well as highlighting the potential of new leisure destinations in less well-known Spanish regions.
“We also have a dedicated strategy for long-haul markets that targets underserved regions, such as Asia, the reinforcement of mature markets, such as the US and Canada,” Gracia added.
She also stressed the airport group, along with tourism organization Tourspain, is keen to speak with airlines due to receive long-range narrowbodies about the potential to open more secondary routes from Spanish cities.
LITHUANIAN AIRPORTS
Earlier this year, AENA expanded its airport portfolio by signing the concession contract for 11 airports in Brazil, including Sao Paulo Congonhas Airport, Campo Grande International Airport Ueze Elias Zahran and Corumba International Airport. The group was awarded the concession of the airports in August 2022 following a $474 million bid.
Meet AENA at stand B30.
LITHUANIAN AIRPORTS PREPARES FOR THE FUTURE
Lithuanian Airports has experienced growth in passenger numbers and cargo traffic in the first quarter of this year. More than 1.18 million passengers utilized airports across the country, marking a 44% increase compared to the same period last year.
Additionally, over 10,700 flights were serviced, representing a 7% growth. Palanga (PLQ) and Kaunas (KUN) airports have showcased particularly strong results, surpassing pre-pandemic records.
To accommodate the rising passenger flow, Lithuanian Airports plans to expand the Kaunas Airport passenger terminal. The expansion works are scheduled to begin in the second half of this year and will take approximately two years.
In parallel, Vilnius Airport (VNO) is undergoing construction of a new departure terminal, set to be the most modern in the Baltic region. Construction began in late 2022 and is expected to be completed in early 2025.
“In 2017, Vilnius Airport handled more than 4 million passengers during the year. At peak times, the terminals handled around 10 flights or 1,400 passengers per hour. Even then, we were already at the limit of what we could do,” said Arnas Dūmanas, head of the operations and infrastructure department of Lithuanian Airports.
“Based on current trends, we could predict that passenger numbers would at least double in the future, so we had to make a strategic decision on how to proceed—either to rebuild the old terminal or to build a new one.”
Meet Lithuanian Airports at stand B20.
