There is white smoke between them Aeroitalia airline and Forli Airport. After fears of a break with the company that last year had contributed the most to the number of passengers on the “Ridolfi” (about 40,000 people) and which began flying from Forlì last Thursday morning on July 9, he sees a pay rise 18 destinations and a joint investment that amounts to 7 million and 231,000 euros only for the share of FA (the Forlì airport management company). “With this agreement, we expect to carry 100,000 passengers out of the total of 230,000 that the 2023 target has planned,” he explains. Andrea GilardiDirector of Marketing and “Business Aviation” of FA.
The 18 routes were defined “by analyzing the best results, days and times of the last season for each individual route,” adds Gilardi. This has led to measures being taken to optimize costs and stop flying half-empty aircraft. For this reason, the aircraft that will be based in Forlì have also been redefined: a Boeing 737-700 with 148 seats and a smaller ATR72-600 with 68 seats.
These aircraft will mainly connect Forlì to Sicily (two weekly flights to Catania, 2 to Trapani and then, from June, one flight to Comiso, 2 to Lampedusa and one to Pantelleria), while the Palermo route is already covered by Ryanair. Then Sardinia: from June 2nd weekly flights to Olbia, 1 to Alghero, 2 to Cagliari). Among the domestic flights we then see Naples (2 per week) and Brindisi (1 per week). Compared to last year’s program, therefore, the connection with Lamezia Terme, which was the least popular, is missing, but the connection to Cagliari is added.
As for the international routes, Ridolfi focuses on pilgrimages (2 weekly flights to Lourdes and 2 to Mostar-Medugorje), on the so-called “ethnic traffic”, i.e. connections with the immigrants’ countries of origin (2 weekly flights to Oradea in western Romania) and then the Adriatic -Ionian Basin, Croatia (2 flights to Zadar, serving the popular island of Pag, 2 to Dubrovnik) and the Greek islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia (1 weekly flight). The “farthest” leg arrives in Belgrade with two weekly connections. This airport, like others, especially those of Turkey, are airports that serve Russia and its tourists – with which there are usually no direct connections due to international sanctions – and where not only Forlì, but many European and Italian airports have decided to to grow the frequencies.
Flights will gradually start operating on March 26-30 (Catania, Trapani and Naples), then April 7-8 (Loudes, Mostar, Oradea, Belgrade) and the others in June. Tickets are available from 39.9 euros. No fares at bargain prices, FA guarantees “the aim is to get one more passenger at the right price, also because flying now costs the airline 30-40% more than before the pandemic”. Programming will last until the end of October 2023. Ryanair (Palermo and Katowice in Poland) and Albawings (Tirana) are also currently flying to Ridolfi.
Aeroitalia, which had already announced numerous flights based in Florence and Bergamo in its expansion plan, is satisfied, so one could assume that Forlì has now been removed from the flight plan for summer 2023. “A partnership based on trust, so much so that we have increased the number of aircraft based in Forlì to two instead of one like last year,” he adds Ugo Calvosa, Executive Vice President of Aeroitalia. Compared to the larger Boeing (and therefore more expensive in terms of fuel and environmental costs) deployed last year, “the service will be carried out with more suitable aircraft for Forlì,” explains Gilardi. Alongside the 148-seat B 737-700 is an ATR72 600, a 68-seat turboprop that is “extremely fast, quiet, the ideal machine for an hour-and-a-half trans-Adriatic itinerary”. .
Finally, in the case of the selected destinations – this is pointed out – an attempt was made to avoid overlaps. For this reason, for example, Corfu is missing as a destination, which is already well served by other regional airports, but the nearby Ionian islands of Zakynthos and Kefalonia are missing. Oradea, which is able to serve Hungary as well, is also a section shut down by Bologna a few months ago. Finally, Belgrade is defined as an “emerging market” along with Istanbul in Turkey and Dubai due to Serbian authorities allowing the transit of Russian travellers, many of whom (who can afford it) still aspire to tourist travel in Western Europe.