Another 33 connections to Cagliari airport, 19 to Alghero airport, 15 to Olbia airport . With an allocation of 10 million for 2025, to be replicated for the following year.

The determination of the "Nuove Rotte" tender, approved by the Regional Council last February, has been published . The tender, promoted by the Department of Transport in collaboration with the Department of Tourism, aims to strengthen air connections to and from Sardinia, improving connections both for tourism and for the mobility of residents. And internal connections are also being targeted, with flights to connect Cagliari with Olbia and Alghero .

Now we await publication in the Official Journal of the European Union, and from that moment the 60 days will start within which airlines can submit applications to participate in the tender and activate the new connections. The financial support for carriers includes coverage of 50% of airport costs both at the departure and arrival airports .

With the call, explains Transport Councillor Barbara Manca , «we want to encourage airlines to open new routes to Sardinia and guarantee Sardinian citizens easier and faster access to national and international destinations , allowing them to travel more frequently and with greater comfort». At the same time, she continues, «we want to make the island increasingly accessible for tourist flows , encouraging interconnection with the main European and international hubs, including Istanbul for example. We have worked very carefully to identify the most strategic routes».

The destinations are distinguished by airport, here is the list of connections.

Cagliari – Ajaccio, Berlin, Birmingham, Bordeaux, Brest, Bucharest, Cluj, Cork, Dubai, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Philadelphia, Hannover, Helsinki, Istanbul, Kaunas, Vilnius, Lamezia Terme, Lille, Leipzig, Lisbon, Liverpool, Łódź, Malaga, New York, Nice, Oslo, Riga, Rotterdam, Tallinn, Tirana, Zagreb.

Alghero - Hamburg, Basel, Berlin, Bilbao, Bristol, Cagliari, Cologne, Eindhoven, Geneva, Lyon, Manchester, Oslo, Porto, Prague, Sofia, Stuttgart, Stockholm, Valencia, Warsaw.

Olbia – Cagliari, Dortmund, Helsinki, Istanbul, Lisbon Malaga, Liverpool, New York, Newcastle, Palma de Mallorca, Porto, Reykjavik, Rotterdam, Seville, Vilnius.

Even long-distance routes such as flights to the USA: «This way we want to stimulate a demand that is important in terms of numbers but still unexpressed» , explains Manca, who with this call aims for a «change of pace that goes beyond seasonality and aims for more efficient, stable and continuous mobility».

The hope is that many airlines will participate , a precondition obviously necessary to actually activate the new routes. "We have made a significant effort - concludes Manca - both economically and in terms of study and analysis, now the market will have to give definitive answers on which connections will be considered the most attractive among those put out to tender".

(Unioneonline/L)

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