Flights decreasing in Lamezia and sharply increasing in Reggio Calabria. There must be a reason? Lamezia had a drop in March of over 7% in the number of passengers compared to an increase of over 30% in Reggio Calabria. It must be considered that this increase in Reggio is determined only by the national routes and not by the new international routes that started in April. Thanks to the new Ryanair flights (Barcelona, Berlin etc.) requested by the Region, the increase will be even stronger and in my opinion to the detriment of Lamezia. If the increase in passengers was not only in Reggio, but also in Lamezia we would be happy, but we have always said that the Region’s pro Minniti airport policy would have led to a downsizing of our airport. Furthermore, the deafening silence of our municipal administration makes us even more worried about the future of our airport.
Too many things have been happening to the detriment of Lamezia since the Mascaro administration has governed us. Today things would get worse given the fact that the mayor and president Occhiuto also belong to Forza Italia. Mascaro didn’t oppose the region’s wicked choices on healthcare and Sacal before, let alone today!.. To understand clearly, in “our Sacal” the political choices are made by the Region given that it is the majority shareholder and it makes them through the administrator the only one who took the place of the board of directors. Board of Directors which has always had within it a representative of the municipality of Lamezia Terme except today when there is this administration. All the previous municipal administrations of the right and the left have always defended with their teeth our presence, including economic ones, in Sacal, today it is as if the airport did not exist. I have been saying it for years that the lack of one of our representatives within the Sacal Board of Directors would have determined, without any cross-examination, an imbalance of governance interests towards other airports. At our airport, relationships with staff, mostly from Lametino, are now gangrenous. The desire of the current Sacal governance to outsource everything to the detriment of our workers is also causing the workers to lose enthusiasm as they are no longer able to peacefully glimpse their future in Sacal. Sacal is our resource that must be defended and respected, instead they are punching us in the face.
But in short, is Mayor Mascaro still convinced that Ryanair’s “move” to Reggio will not lead to a weakening of Lamezia airport? We still do not have the political and administrative power necessary to reverse the decline of our city, but we will do everything to make sure this massacre ends. Unfortunately Lamezia must be defended with teeth. Everyone talks about it as a central area of Calabria to be valorised and then from the inside we pretend not to see what is happening, Healthcare, Transport, constant decrease in the population of Lamezia. I believe that citizens must demand more without fear and openly express their dissent towards an administration that is unable to defend their city.
*former president of the Lamezia Terme municipal council
