«When I was called they told me that they wanted to play in Serie A, but at the time not only was there no team and no stadium, there was even no ball here.” The president of Sacal Marco Franchini uses a football metaphor to explain what condition he was in the “Tito Minniti” airport when he became number one of the company that manages the Calabrian airports. Since then there have been important steps forward, sealed on Thursday with the landing of Rayanair in Reggio Calabria. But despite this, the manager is still not fully satisfied because “we are only at the beginning and we have a lot to do”.
On Thursday morning, when the first flight of the Irish low-cost airline rolled onto the runway towards Bologna, he had already set his next objectives, among these was the renovation of the terminal: «We should also improve the aesthetic aspect – he declared between balloons and sparkling wine – because this is the gateway to the region.” The Calabria Region has put 40 million euros on the table and the president of Sacal is ready to do his part so that “the efforts of the Citadel are not wasted”. In the near future the “Tito Minniti” airport will almost completely change its appearance: «There will be three large “volumes” – explains Franchini – one in the arrivals block, one in the departures block and finally the central one, which is the access to the airport”. The planning for the first two blocks is already at an advanced stage: «There is a definitive project that must be verified and approved by Enac. The executive for the first two functional blocks has already been approved and the works have already been assigned to the company that will have to begin. We are discussing with them some adjustments and measures due to the capacity that the airport has to make. After bringing in the flights we must be able to manage passenger traffic with European standards.”
Franchini explains in detail how the arrival and departure terminals of the “Tito Minniti” will be transformed. «Now – he states – after checking in you have to go down a dilapidated ladder to board, after the works there will be two escalators and an elevator which will connect directly to the boarding lounges in the new block to the north». The same works will be carried out in the second block: «While for departures you start from street level and go down to minus one to board, on arrival you go up to street level using the escalators, to find the baggage carousels in the new halls» . The works should be completed, according to forecasts, before the 2025 summer season. «We are evaluating the central part – concludes Franchini. Everything needs to be removed down to the skeleton to be rebuilt and we still have no financial forecast or timeframe.”
Barcelona and Marseille: full flights
«I just received the data for international flights, they leave and arrive full». On Thursday the success of the new national routes managed by Ryanair had almost made people cry out as a miracle, after years in which the “Tito Minniti” was gasping for air in search of companies that could fly to Reggio, while the terminal remained desolately deserted.
Yesterday, with the start of international flights, the new course seems to have been reaffirmed. President Franchini said that «international flights, to Barcelona and Marseille, are not only leaving full, but above all arriving full. Starting from the gratitude towards Ita, which allows daily connections with Rome and Milan, with airports that connect the whole world, the Ryanair network is not just an airline, but a 360-degree commercial business. On their site you can not only buy flight tickets, but you can also book a hotel and rent a car, for example. The fact that the Irish company has decided to base itself in Reggio and proposed Calabria throughout the world is something epochal, now we must be able to valorise this ignition given by the Region to improve everything and which will also contaminate the growth at the level local”.
Meanwhile, between today and tomorrow, another three new international routes will be inaugurated. Today evening, at 7.55pm, the first Ryanair flight for Tirana will depart. Tomorrow, at 6am for Manchester and at 6.15pm for Berlin.
