ROUTES EUROPE: Cagliari Airport - The Gateway to Routes Europe 2011

Cagliari Airport in sunny Sardinia has managed to buck the trend of traffic downturns in Europe by growing its number of airline clients and its route network, registering double-digit traffic growth and announcing a number of new infrastructure developments over the past decade.

The Airport, located in the Elmas province approximately 8km northwest of Cagliari, is operated by Sogear SpA, a management company established in 1990 and which was awarded a 40-year concession to develop the facility in January 2005.

Located on the southern coast of Sardinia, Cagliari Elmas is the main gateway to the island, with around 60 per cent of its population within its catchment area. It is currently one of the fastest growing airports in Italy, with traffic increasing 13.8 per cent between 2008 and 2009 against a national average of -2.3 per cent.

“One of the main aims of the airport managing company is to plan the expansion of the airport infrastructure while endorsing the needs of the city and region in order to contribute to its social and economic growth,” Vincenzo Mareddu, Chairman, Cagliari Airport told The HUB Daily yesterday.

Over the past couple of years a number of projects have been completed to improve the efficiency of the airport. Its internal layout has been modified to ease passenger flow and enhance commercial revenues, a dedicated car rental facility to house the 19 companies on site has opened, while the runway and taxiway witnessed improvements in 2009. Its current passenger terminal was opened in June 2003 and has the capacity to handle 5.5 million passengers per annum.

The small regional gateway has managed to make a significant contribution to Sardinia’s tourism and economic development. Passenger numbers have doubled since 2006 and last year it handled 3.4 million, the highest annual figure in history.

According to Mareddu it is the stunning attractions and tourism developments on the island that are helping to attract more passengers. An estimated 88 per cent of its international traffic is for lesiure purposes, with the balance VFR traffic. In the domestic market around 60 per cent of arrivals and departures are for business with the rest for leisure visits.

As the host of Routes Europe, Mareddu and his team are keen to showcase Sardinia’s many attractions and tourism developments. The most important of these is, of course, the island’s sunshine. In fact, Sardinia is the sunniest region in Italy, which is a major contributor to Cagliari Airport’s work with airlines to encourage them to operate year-round services.

“We are the sunniest region in Italy and have an average temperature of 21 degrees Celsius all year round. We have had an issue with seasonality in the past, but we do work very hard with airlines to encourage them to operate year-round, and now most of our services actually operate all year round,” he said.

With sunshine come beaches and Sardinia is blessed with vast stretches of untouched beaches, along with fantastic natural surroundings, which are perfect for outdoor enthusiasts and families. Golf continues to be a growing segment, and art and culture tourism is also being heavily promoted, explains Mareddu.

Cagliari and the Sardinian region remains a high-end destination, according to Mareddu. “We are the Italian region with the highest concentration of four-star hotels. We also have a number of renowned five-star hotels, one of which is the Forte Village,” he said. The latter is the host of this year’s event.

In tomorrow’s The HUB Daily we will look in greater detail at the airport’s traffic growth, network development and the airlines that are serving Cagliari Elmas.