It is cold by the lagoon. On Santa Gilla beats a light breeze that rages from the south-east in that stretch of water that climbs from the Golfo degli Angeli to the enclave of Giorgino. The dawn is clouded by a sky pervaded by patches of clouds scattered here and there. It is February 13, 1927. It is 7.35 in the morning when the Savoia S55, a sort of flying plane, with a new and extraordinarily modern design, begins to roar. A pennant of the four Moors swings on the driver's dashboard, obligatorily red-blue with the inscription Cagliari.

De Pinedo, the aviator

At the controls of that trabiccolo of the skies is Francesco De Pinedo, the aviator marquis. The detachment is flat, like the waters of the pond. From what is about to become the airport of Sardinia, one of the air missions that will mark the history of world aviation is taking off: the Cruise of the two Americas. Cagliari, still dozing, is touched by a light flyby, before reaching Capo Spartivento. After a nine-hour flight, the first stop is Kenitra, on the Atlantic coast of Morocco.

The hydroplane from Santa Gilla

The seaplane departed from Cagliari coasts Africa up to the islands of Cape Verde, to then launch towards the Atlantic. On 2 March, that sort of flying catamaran, departed from the Nuraghi Island, lands in the port of Buenos Aires, Argentina. On March 13, the air cruise resumes as far as the mouth of the Amazon River. The crossing is endless, from the Antillean Sea to Puerto Rico, from Cuba to New Orleans. After a thousand ups and downs, he will return to Italy on June 16, 1927, after 44,000 kilometers of flight, which had begun four months earlier from Cagliari across the Atlantic and the two Americas.

93 years ago

De Pinedo, the reckless aviator, 93 years ago, had already understood everything. Not even a year later from that ocean crossing he returns to Cagliari as President of the Mediterranean Air Society. It is April 22, 1928. It is 8 in the morning when the first regular line departs from the Cagliari-Elmas seaplane base which will join Sardinia to the Peninsula with a weekly route Ostia-Terranova-Cagliari. The Sardinian Union of the day before, we reproduce the article of the time in the central photo, had been explicit, with a no-frills appeal: «Homage to De Pinedo. All citizens are invited to meet today at 6 pm in front of the town hall to pay homage to De Pinedo. Give flags and lights to your homes ». The people of Cagliari acclaim him. The "Lord of distances" is greeted by an unprecedented tribute. It is he, the aviator of Santa Gilla, who consecrates the quality and importance of that potential air base to the eyes of the world, giving it an international visibility that will forever remain in the annals of flight. A lot of water has passed under the Giorgino bridge. As much as the public money invested in that oasis of flying over the water. First in the “citadel of the air”, the former military airport, and then in the current modern terminal of the international airport of Cagliari.

Avalanche of money

An infinite avalanche of money, all withdrawn from public coffers to give the island of Sardinia an infrastructure capable of connecting it with the rest of the world. A fundamental logistical work for the sacrosanct right of the Sardinians to move and for Sardinia to be connected with routes and airlines in every corner of the universe, just like the Cruise of the two Americas. Now that the heavy clouds of underground privatization hover over the Cagliari airport, it is essential to turn the spotlight on the real reasons for a financial takeover that raises many doubts. After all, the silence of the protagonists, after the publication of the first episodes of our investigation, in many cases, could be worth much more than a confirmation.

The silence of the upper floors

On the upper floors of the airport people prefer to keep quiet, knowing full well that the games can now only take place in the sunlight. The plan that for years had been going under the radar to sell to a leading financial fund, among all F2i, has jumped to the headlines after the publication in the Unione Sarda of the corporate changes that have brought out of the blue the airport rakes, Sardinians and not only that, to conquer a very modest, but insidious 0.209% of the share capital of Sogaer, the company that manages the Cagliari-Elmas airport.

News leak

The leak of news on the takeover operation with the aim of a capital increase as a viaticum for the sale of the majority to F2i Ligantia, the company set up ad hoc to conquer the Sardinian airports, has substantially wrecked the hypothesized privatization. The capital increase, as mentioned, is not only not necessary, there is the possibility of reducing the share capital (currently 13 million) or drawing from the substantial reserve fund, but it would arouse not a few suspicions within the very structure of the organizations. employers who control the airport company. All this without forgetting that the Chamber of Commerce, which holds 94% of the airport's share capital, is a public body, with all that it entails in terms of transparency and compliance with public tender procedures in the event of the sale of shares. let alone the majority.

No mission

None of the acts of appointment of the current top management of Sogaer show the reliance on a clear mission on the future of the airport. Certainly, clutches are not lacking in the government structure of the Cagliari airport. The very powerful Confcommercio of southern Sardinia led by Alberto Bertolotti, initially appointed to the presidency of the airport, had openly expressed its total opposition to the "sale" of the airport: in Sardinia - he said - the airports, if anything, we have to buy not sell. It was that step that blew up the written agreement for the governance of the companies connected to the Chamber of Commerce, until the advent of Monica Pilloni at the helm of Sogaer, the flying lady who in the first round was designated by the Pigliaru junta and then passed, in the second round of appointments, at Confindustria. The chessboard now awaits the next move.

Three hypotheses in flight

There are three hypotheses in the field: the renunciation of privatization and the relaunch of the airport as a fundamental public infrastructure for the development of South Sardinia and the entire island, the hypothesis of a holding company between airport companies or, thirdly, a public tender for the sale of company shares. In these last two hypotheses, with however very serious repercussions on the strategic nature of the airport, it is all too evident that the real value of the airport will have to be established in order to avoid the risk of sales and gifts. It is in this case that the public money invested in the citadel of the air in the last twenty years comes into play. Only some eloquent data of the financial effort of the State and the Region are enough to equip Cagliari and Sardinia with an intercontinental airport. From 2000 to 2015, 140 million euros were spent (we publish the table in the photo). The investment framework is marked by 65 million euros spent in the early 2000s with the inauguration in June 2003 of the new terminal with 38,000,000 square meters. Thirty-three million for the redevelopment of the runway and renovation of the subsidiary runway, 21 million for the extension of 18 hectares of the aircraft apron, 9 million for the expansion of new buildings for another 5,500 square meters, 3 million for access, roads and parking for 2,255 car. To these must be added 50.2 million allocated for the 2016-2019 program contract, for extensions, maintenance and lighting. And, finally, planned spending hypotheses for the 2019-2024 Master Plan of 20 million euros for new hangars and fast connections.

Public investments

In the last twenty years, 210 million euros of public money have been spent and committed for the Cagliari-Elmas airport. Relevant figures to which all investment costs generated by airport management must be added. A mountain of public money that in the event of a privatization would end up fattening the earnings of the private coffers, subtracting from the general interest of Sardinia a fundamental infrastructure to attract new tourist flows capable of positioning the island at the center of the Mediterranean. With almost 5 million passengers in 2019, the two-year period 2020-2021 is not valid, Cagliari airport has shown a significant capacity for growth, albeit always contained compared to the great potential, especially international.

De Pinedo's route

It is clear that the future of the Cagliari airport is at stake on this game, knowing full well that any private entity, moreover already positioned on other continental airports, will have no interest in making the Cagliari-Elmas airport a center of gravity, which would be used, if anything, as an annex of their businesses. The challenge today is precisely that of the most daring and far-sighted aviator. Already 93 years ago Francesco De Pinedo foresaw a future as a protagonist in the Mediterranean for the port of Santa Gilla, not a branch of private business in the land of Sardinia.

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