Montichiari (Brescia) – Outside the European corridors, but the Save Group reassures that the planned development plans will go ahead. Waiting to see the effects of the relaunch, Montichiari airport, named after “Gabriele D’Annunzio”, in fact it remains outside the European corridors, which, due to their relevance, can also benefit from specific funds. In the phase of approval of the new regulations by the Council of the EU, the Brescia airport was excluded from the Trans European Network-Transportthe “Ten-t” network which aims to create a single European transport area based on a single comprehensive, integrated and multimodal trans-European network between land, sea and air transport, encompassing and connecting all EU member states in intermodal and interoperable manner.
“The news that the European Union has downgraded Montichiari airport leaves the Brescia System dismayed – was the comment of the president of the Province, Emanuele Moraschini –. We have been working for years to ensure that this structure is enhanced and now we learn that will no longer receive funding”. Hence the appeal to the Brescian MEPs “to intervene to support the Brescia system and to relaunch this airport”. The downgrading, however, should not affect the relaunch plan (with a predominantly cargo vocation) launched by Save Group, which manages the airport, and which has planned 100 million investments for the next seven years. “We will certainly get to the bottom of the matter quickly – he comments Francesco Folonari, Cargo director of the Save Group – which we believe to be inadmissible in content and form. Having said this, we are not worried in any way, because we are proceeding with the planned development plans which are not affected in any way by this new regulation, and we are working above all to obtain urban planning compliance, which is essential for the start of the planned investments”.
For the business world, the need for full development of the airport remains. “For an area like Brescia – he comments Eleonora Rigotti, president of Cna Brescia – it is a fundamental infrastructure, necessary to maintain the competitiveness of our businesses on a global scale. The work that has been done by the Board of Directors in recent years to enhance the cargo function has been important. We share the Province’s appeal, so that Montichiari airport can return to being at the center of concrete policies in Europe too”.
For Eugenio Massetti, president of Confartigianato Brescia and Lombardia, “This setback is yet another mockery. In 25 years many promises have not been kept by those who had to act. We still believe it is essential that the airport is supported and expanded and that Montichiari can also be made available for passengers. This exclusion now does not benefit the immediate development of the airport”.
