From August 1st to September 3rd, Ita Airways "significantly increased the capacity offered on flights in territorial continuity from/to Sardinia , to respond to the marked increase in demand recorded on these connections".
As we approach the end of a critical summer on the transport front, the airline explains that it has "scheduled 222 additional flights with respect to the provisions of the taxation decree , of which 141 to Cagliari (108 from/to Linate and 33 from/to Rome Fiumicino) and 81 on the Alghero-Milan Linate route, offering a total of 36,800 incremental seats compared to the Decree, of which 23,300 on Cagliari (17,300 from/to Milan Linate and 6,000 from/to Rome Fiumicino) and 13,500 on Alghero» .
In detail: compared to the period from 25 August to 3 September, Ita scheduled «76 additional flights to those envisaged by the Decree, of which 51 to Cagliari (36 to/from Milan Linate and 15 to/from Rome Fiumicino) and 25 on the Alghero-Milan Linate, for a total offer of 12,250 additional seats. Of these 76 flights, 34 had already been structurally planned, while 42 were added close to the operational dates to deal with the critical issues deriving from the very high percentage of aircraft occupancy ».
Ita also adds «that, during the tender, it defined its offer in terms of capacity on the basis of the frequencies envisaged by the Decree, determined according to an estimate of demand which also took into account the emergency situation of the Covid-19 pandemic; the mobility needs and the very high demand encountered in this summer season have proved to be much higher than the estimates of the Decree , thus forcing the company to resort massively to the addition of capacity which, in the spirit of the Decree itself, should have been limited to "contingent circumstances" which had determined a demand for seats for each route exceeding 91% of the total daily offer».
Finally, Ita underlines the "continuous monitoring of the available capacity by promptly evaluating, in the event of a shortage of available places, increases in the offer".
SOLINAS IN THE EU – Meanwhile, the summit between the President of the Region Christian Solinas and the Councilor for Transport Antonio Moro in Brussels with the European Commissioner for Transport, Adina Valean, has been set for next Wednesday 6 September. A meeting request accepted after the letter sent by the governor of Sardinia to the EU Commission on the serious problems of air transport to and from the island . Solinas and Moro will bring a dossier to the heart of Europe that starts from the underdimensioning of traffic and from a continuity which, due to its structure, is incapable of satisfying the needs and right to mobility of the Sardinians .
The Region is once again asking the carriers for greater sensitivity towards Sardinia which risks being penalized compared to its French sister ship. In recent months, Corsica has in fact obtained the green light for a new model of territorial continuity where the total number of seats offered on the discounted routes will grow by 3.5% (from 2.7 to 2.8 million tickets on sale every year).
"We will bring the numbers that certify the deficiencies in relation to the current tender - explains the councilor of Transport Moro -, the undersizing of traffic has led to a programming of the number of frequencies that is insufficient to satisfy resident traffic volumes and has caused the funnel effect that it is created in all the Sardinian airports , above all in the hottest days of the summer».
"We will reiterate that the assessments made on the traffic for residents of Sardinia are incorrect and underestimated - underlines the commissioner -, and we will explain our goal: to update the existing contracts (which will expire in October 2024), scheduling more flights and introducing the mechanism that imposes the ceiling on tariffs , as established by the decree of the Italian government».
(Unioneonline/D)
