flights cut and a million fewer seats – Corriere.it

Sardinia is currently experiencing a second pandemic in air connections after the one that broke out in 2020 with the spread of the coronavirus. Between November 2022 and March 2023, airlines sold one million fewer seats than in the five months between 2018 and 2019 and only on domestic routes. This is a drop of 37%, while the average prices – net of extras such as checked baggage, priority boarding, choice of seat – are 24.5% higher. This is what emerges from the analysis of the Corriere della Sera on data provided by Airline Data Inc and fare monitoring.

After Covid

Today’s offer of seats to and from Sardinia is even lower than in 2021-2022, when the Omicron variant was raging. And this is causing a lot of discussion – even at a local political level – because thousands of people are unable to reach the island or leave due to lack of flights or because the costs are sometimes exorbitant. A similar problem – complete with a complaint from the president of the Region Renato Schifani – is also reported by Sicily. But the analysis of Courier on the period November 2022-March 2023 shows that the companies are putting up for sale 13.5% more seats between the Sicilian island and the Italian peninsula than in November 2018-March 2019. And ticket prices — neutralized the effect of the purchase a few days before takeoff — they are in line with four years ago.

The double connectivity

In Sardinia there is a double system of connections with its three airports Cagliari, Olbia, Alghero. On the one hand there are the flights that we can define as “free market” offered by low cost companies such as Ryanair, easyJet and Wizz Air. On the other hand, there is territorial continuity. And here the story is a little more complex. Continuity is a public aid package which provides discounted fares for those who live on the island (plus some specific categories) and have to fly to/from Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate. After a few twists and turns, the Spanish low-cost Volotea and Ita Airways (which took over from Alitalia) agreed to share the connections guaranteeing this public service obligation without any regional compensation from 15 May 2022 to 14 May 2023.

The regional tender

But last September the carriers removed the flights after February 12, 2023 (Volotea) and February 16 (Ita) from sales. With two communications sent to the Region, the airlines said they were abandoning the uncompensated tender mainly due to the increase in kerosene prices and inflation. In October, the Region published the new call for territorial continuity: starting price of 52 million euros for connections between 17 February 2023 and 26 October 2024. There is time until 27 December and the winning carrier will have to guarantee discounted fares for residents and those entitled to €39 (taxes excluded) for connections with Rome Fiumicino and €47 (taxes excluded) for those with Milan Linate.

The reduction

In summer, with a region that is one of Europe’s favorite destinations for sea and food, connections are not lacking. The problem, if anything, is that the war between the carriers pushes us to exaggerate with the offer and thus to fill the planes less on average. Between April and September 2022, carriers earned 550 million euros from flights to/from Sardinia, according to estimates by the Courier. In winter, when the seasonal motivation fails, the companies reduce the connectivity with Sardinia. A strategy “attenuated” by the presence of territorial continuity. But these weeks even continuity itself flies to a minimum. And, as the analysis shows, one million seats are missing compared to the period November 2018-March 2019, an average of 6,700 seats or 40 fewer flights per day.

The interventions (limited)

During the Christmas period, and after some political push, Ita increased the presence of 2 frequencies (4 flights) on 23 and 24 December between Linate and Alghero/Cagliari (576 more seats) and another 4 frequencies (8 flights in all) on 21-22 December between Linate and Alghero/Cagliari/Olbia and Fiumicino-Alghero. The Italian company, confirms in a note, “will proceed as soon as possible with the marketing of further additional frequencies (8 in all, equal to another 16 flights)” to cover the period 20-24 December. Similar move by Volotea which increased the frequencies on the Cagliari-Rome Fiumicino route with 3 frequencies in all (on 22, 23 and 24 December) and another 5 (from 26 to 30 December). But even with these increases, the fewer seats remain over a million in the winter period.

The reasons

According to insiders, there was also too “prudent” planning by the carriers who feared a collapse in traffic demand amid inflation, a possible recession, and the consequences of the war in Ukraine. But not only. “The main criticality lies in the fact that Sardinia is not attractive in winter for those who do not live on the island,” Silvio Pippobello, CEO of Geasar, the company that manages the Olbia-Costa Smeralda airport, said in a recent webinar. «We must not only offer sun and sea, we must also strengthen the “shoulders” of the summer season», added Alberto Perini, CEO and general manager of Sogeaal, the management company of Alghero airport.

The proposals

“What is missing is travel motivation,” commented Paolo Manca, president of Federalberghi Sardegna and national vice president of the trade association. «Why should a tourist come to our region in the winter? And even if he comes, what does he do here? What do we offer?”. “For this we need to create an organization that acts as a catalyst and that thinks about creating an interesting product all year round,” suggested Pippobello. «The only way to solve the connectivity problem is to get tourists to come here in winter as well. But the Sardinia Region must do its part by creating the entity that will have to create the product and also think about how to encourage air traffic”.

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