Martin Placek
Research expert covering transportation and electronics
With airport infrastructure investments and a well developed tourism sector, the aviation industry in Italy has shown positive trends across both air freight and passenger air transport sectors in recent years. 44 airports distributed within the country facilitates the discovery of the “Bel paese” and its charming cities, in particular to islands such as Sicily and Sardinia.
Coronavirus impact on the Italian passenger and cargo segments
After peaking at 191.2 million passengers in 2019, the number of arriving and departing passengers experienced a sharp decline to reach only 52.8 million passengers in 2020, as a result of restricted passenger movements imposed by the Italian government in order to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. In terms of air cargo, there was a slight downward trend in the amount of air freight handled at Italian airports.Leading airlines in Italy
In recent years, low-cost airlines held the larger share of the domestic flight market, while full service airlines held the larger share of international and long distance flights. In fact, low cost companies such as the Irish Ryanair carried the highest number of passengers in Italy overall, followed by Alitalia and Easyjet.Leading airports in Italy
Sicily is the Italian region with the highest number of airports, followed by Lombardy and Apulia, both with four airports. The airport of Rome Fiumicino confirmed its role as the main hub but was greatly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, suffering a drastic reduction in passenger traffic in 2020. The airport of Milano Malpensa was the busiest cargo airport in Italy, followed by the airports of Rome Fiumicino and Bergamo Orio Al Serio.
