ROUTES EUROPE: Cagliari Airport - Sunny Days Ahead

Cagliari Airport is focused on online marketing and invests significantly in airlines’ websites, as well as organising press trips and fam trips to promote the destination in the local media and travel trade.

With a strong presence in the traditional Western European markets, including UK, Germany, France and Spain, Cagliari Airport is now keen to spread its reach to new, emerging markets. “Russia is a very important market and one that we are aiming at, as well as other parts of Eastern Europe. We had also been looking at new markets in North Africa but, in light of the current situation, we will be waiting and seeing how things go there,” Vincenzo Mareddu, Chairman, Cagliari Airport told The HUB Daily.

The political instability in North Africa has, however, had some positives for Cagliari’s tourism industry. “It has turned to be good for us in a way, as a lot of cruise companies that were meant to stop in those regions are now changing their itineraries to visit Cagliari,” he added, noting that the airport has targeted this business sector as a future growth opportunity.

With its natural heritage and high-end tourism product, Sardinia is well placed to tap into the emerging European markets in the east, as well as Russia. However, Mareddu is quick to point out that the Italian government has also committed itself to encouraging growth in the aviation industry, as well as regaining Italy’s position as the leading arts and culture destination in Europe.

“Italy does not tax air travel heavily and we do not have the environmental taxes like the UK and Germany do, and like Ireland had in the past. The new German tax imposed by Angela Merkel of €8 has already resulted in us seeing a decrease in the number of flights between our airport and Germany,” he said.

The main markets for growth will be Northern and Eastern Europe, according to Mareddu. “We will certainly increase links to the UK and Scandinavia. Germany is well covered but we are missing the north of the country so somewhere like Hamburg would be an option, while there are obvious city markets like Amsterdam where there is potential for growth.”

Its route development strategy is based around five core principles…to consolidate its existing business with its existing airlines; to distribute traffic flows during the entire year in order to achieve de-seasonalisation objectives; to maintain and diversify the portfolio of airlines operating at the airport in order to avoid any type of monopolistic pressure; to open new point-to-point routes which can develop primarily inbound traffic flows and to try to avoid the building of aggressive competition among carriers operating at the airport. “We want to ensure a healthy and balanced competitive environment and will guide new airlines into markets that do not excessively overlap other existing services.”

Although passenger growth slipped to 3.4 per cent in 2010 from double-digit rises the three previous years, the airport is predicting annual growth of 4.5 per cent per annum over the next decade. This will likely occur through the arrival of additional low-cost flights and the airport will consider increasing the apron area and incorporating more stands to meet this expected demand.

Other infrastructure projects in development is a new train link to the centre of Cagliari and wider Sardinian network which will open next year and the construction of additional car parking facilities. Although Mareddu believes passengers from out of the city will make use of the new public transport link, he thinks city-based travellers will continue to use their cars. “We have a lot of people that bring their cars to the airport as we offer only a short transfer from the car park via the check-in area and departure lounge to the aircraft, a product that it’s well liked by our customers.”

By the end of this month the airport will also have opened a brand new general aviation terminal to cater for the growing number of executive movements it is receiving. “We have invested in general aviation because it is a growing trend in Europe and realised thatwe could not accommodate the demand. Our infrastructure was not keeping up, so we decided to invest €1.2 million for the building,” Mareddu explained.

With Sardinia’s tourism attractions, sunny weather and high-end resorts, Cagliari Airport is well placed to share in the success of the country’s ongoing development as a major domestic business and international leisure destination.