(Finance) – A support network for all regional airports created with the aim of assist the main airports in moments of congestion and relaunch smaller state-owned ones: local and national institutions and players in the sector met today, October 15, 2024, in Parmain a conference organized byNational Civil Aviation Authority (Enac) and fromParma Union of Industrialists (UPI) focused on “Integrated airport system of Emilia-Romagna – National development model of air transport”, and whose conclusions were entrusted to the Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Galeazzo Bignami.
The demand for air transport is growing at a rapid pace so much so that in the summer of 2024 the increase reached double digits. But the infrastructure is not always adequatealso in terms of airport capacity: the risk is to congest the system, creating inconvenience to the detriment of the quality of services offered to passengers and the protection of everyone’s right to mobility, with particular attention to people with disabilities or reduced mobility.
Today’s discussion was inspired by these assumptions and by the guidelines of the National Airport Plan, currently being finalized by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
The UPI President Gabriele Buia: “We welcomed Enac’s request to host this important meeting at our headquarters because it is a precious opportunity to talk about infrastructural development, to look at the future of the territory and to act immediately, in the present, trying to create new synergies between neighboring territories. Our Association has always acted in this direction: in the action of protection and defense of the requests of associated companies but also in the search for the conditions for growth and development of the productive and social system. In this sense, the creation of an integrated airport system at a regional level is undoubtedly an opportunity to be seized, to the benefit of the companies and people of this area”.
“The making of a synergistic support network to the regional network – declared the Enac Board Member Benedetta Fiorini on the sidelines of the conference – can only contribute to the organic development of air transport. In this framework we hope for a prompt implementation of the integrated network of Emilia-Romagna ports, in favor of the economic, social and tourist growth of the entire region and beyond, in compliance with the non-ideological sustainability and intermodality of the sector which can make us increasingly competitive.”
“The system must be ready – declared the Enac President Pierluigi Di Palma – to accommodate the constant increase in traffic demand in an increasingly interconnected and sustainable world, according to the principles of intermodality and sustainability, with the support oftechnological innovation and artificial intelligence. According to government indications, we must find solutions as a country system to accompany this growing desire to fly, guaranteeing safety, efficiency, quality and protection of all passengers, the cornerstone of the system, with particular attention to PRMs”.
The Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Galeazzo BignamThe’Emilia Romagna can be an example for the future development of integrated airport systems and this is why we look carefully at what is happening in this area. It is clear that the Government cannot intervene on dynamics defined by the market. But it can direct and govern processes which, if implemented, can provide a competitive structure to the national air transport system“.
Speakers at the conference, which was widely attended, included: Gabriele Buia, President of the Industrialists’ Union of Parma; Pietro Lunardi, former MIT Minister; Claudio Eminente, Central Director of Enac; Nazareno Ventola, CEO Bologna Airport; Guido Dalla Rosa Prati, President of Parma Airport; Fabio Pezzani, Board Member of the Forlì Airport; Leonardo Corbucci, CEO Rimini Airport; Roberto Gianaroli, President of Aero Club Pavullo; Fausto Palombelli, President of Assoclearance; Carlo Borgomeo, President of Assaeroporti; Pasqualino Monti, CEO Enav; Pierluigi Di Palma, President of Enac.
The conclusions are entrusted to Galeazzo Bignami, Deputy Minister of Infrastructure and Transport. The works were moderated by Claudio Rinaldi, Director of the Gazzetta di Parma, and Leonard Berberi, journalist of the Corriere della Sera.