Automatic doors open and close continuously, trolleys slide across the floor, and the eyes of those waiting are fixed on the arrivals board. At Cagliari Airport , it was the debut day of the new air connections to Olbia and Alghero . The trial, promoted and funded by the Sardinia Region and entrusted to Aeroitalia, begins. It will test a network of flights between the island's three main airports.

There's more excitement than traffic in the terminal. The day of the new flights passes without any particular ceremony. The first flight to land is the one from Alghero . The 68-seat plane takes just over half an hour to arrive, but it touches down around 1:00 PM instead of the scheduled 12:40 PM landing time.

There are very few passengers: it's hard to get to ten. Disembarkation is complete in a few minutes, and there's little activity in the terminal: a few waiting family members and a few onlookers watch the debut of the new service.

In the afternoon, it's the turn of the flight arriving from Olbia . This flight, too, is delayed: the plane lands around 4:15 PM instead of 3:00 PM, coinciding with three other flights, slowing down the disembarkation process. There are a handful more passengers than on the morning flight.

The return flight fared slightly better, with just over twenty passengers. The first day thus left two figures to be recorded. On the one hand, cabins were still far from full, on the other, punctuality needed to improve : both inaugural flights arrived later than scheduled. A contrasting start for a service aimed at reducing travel time between Sardinia's main airports.

The full article by Umberto Zedda is available in the newspaper on newsstands and in the digital edition on the Unione Digital app.

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