Italian airports get 91 new routes; Lufthansa and Wind Jet lag behind Ryanair

Lufthansa Italia started five new services from its Milan Malpensa base this week including a daily service to Lisbon. easyJet and TAP Portugal already operate daily on this route.

As the ‘New Alitalia’ tries to sort itself out and create a viable, unsubsidised future other airlines have been busy developing new markets in Italy. anna.aero has identified that at least 23 Italian airports have seen the start of new services this week led by Cagliari and Bologna.

Source: OAG Max Online for w/c 30 March 2009

Ryanair is the main provider of new routes at many Italian airports with some notable exceptions. Wind Jet is starting nine new routes from Forli while Lufthansa Italia is starting five at Milan Malpensa. MyAir.com is responsible for both new routes at Foggia. At Catania the five new routes are shared between Aer Lingus (to Dublin), Blue Air (to Bucharest Baneasa) and Egyptair (three new weekly services to Cairo, Luxor and Sharm El-Sheikh).
Apart from the 17 airports shown in the graph there are also new routes to Brindisi, Cuneo, Florence, Trapani, Venice and Verona Brescia. Four of these are down to Ryanair but Cimber Sterling is connecting both Florence and Venice Marco Polo with Copenhagen.

Blu Express celebrates starting flights between Rome Fiumicino and Lamezia Terme. The President of the Calabria Region cuts the ribbon with Blu Express’ Commercial Director George Michalopoulos.