Catania Airport in chaos after fire: what happens now for companies and passengers
The fire at Catania Airport on Sunday evening, July 16, continues to create numerous inconveniences for airlines and passengers in the [...]
CTA
The fire at Catania Airport on Sunday evening, July 16, continues to create numerous inconveniences for airlines and passengers at the height of the summer peak.
In this article:
Today it was supposed to reopen the Terminal A, most directly affected by the fire, but a few hours ago came confirmation that Will not reopen until July 25. In fact, firefighters are still working to trace the cause of the fire. In any case, a further extension of the closure of the Terminal is not ruled out.
The centrality of Catania
The port of Catania Fontanarossa, the most important in southern Italy along with Naples, is the fifth in our country for with just over 10 million passengers per year (Enac data 2022). It also holds the record for the top 4 busiest routes of Italy: the Catania-Rome and vice versa in second place), and the Catania-Malpensa and vice versa in third and fourth place. Last Monday alone, about 120 departures were scheduled from the Etna airport.
Flights over Terminal C, stop extra Schengen.
From the airport's Terminal C, on the other hand, the following are planned to date. two flights per hour (arriving and departing). The Sac management company, in coordination with the Civil Defense, "is building a marquee that will make it possible to increase the capacity of Terminal C and consequently the number of flights operated per hour, as well as facilitate waiting and boarding operations."
Shortly, then, the number of flights departing Will be increased from the current 2 per hour to 4 and thereafter up to 7 flights per hour.
The Sac company also reported that throughout the day today, Wednesday, July 19, 10 airline arrivals and 10 airline departures have been scheduled from Terminal C Ryanair and Lufthansa. It has not yet been announced which and how many flights will be operated tomorrow.
No dice, however, for non-Schengen traffic, which is still not allowed. Flights to the United Kingdom (easyJet to Jet2), Riyadh and Tel Aviv (Wizz Air), Cairo and Luxor (Air Cairo), Dubai (flydubai), Casablanca (Ryanair) and Istanbul (Turkish).
Domestic flights and transfers
Meanwhile, as early as last Monday, the airports of Comiso, Palermo, Trapani, Lamezia Terme and Reggio Calabria have been identified to accommodate almost all domestic flights scheduled to Catania. Numerous coaches are available from these destinations to transport passengers to their destinations.
Sac communicated, in fact, the launch of "a free shuttle service from the Etna airport to Comiso, Palermo and Trapani that will continue in the coming days. Passengers cono encouraged to contact the airlines for information about their flight."
The choices of Ita Airways
Ita Airways has let it be known that it is working with Catania Airport and other Sicilian airports to minimize inconvenience to passengers. Most flights over Catania have been rescheduled to the airport in Comiso Pio La Torre.
The tricolor carrier is also working to operate six additional frequencies with dedicated flights from Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino about the Palermo airport.
The company, he explains in a note, "is also considering using Airbus A330 aircraft, hoping for the support of local and regional transport operators in order to ensure passengers adequate mobility between Catania and Palermo airport."
To date, Eurowings, Austrian , Swiss, easyJet, SkyAlps, and Iberia are also operating out of Palermo, which, however, has announced that as of next Friday it will no longer accept "diverted" flights from Catania.
Ryanair on Trapani
A Trapani Birgi, however, 24 new coaches are available to bring passengers back to the Etnean capital. Just on the airport of Trapani are duplicated transit flights, (today there were 49) all operated by Ryanair.
These include routes to Krakow, Bologna , Malta, Milan Malpensa, Toulouse, Milan Bergamo, Pisa, Seville, London Stansted, Rome Fiumicino, Naples, Villafranca, Venice , Genoa, Turin, Ancona, Billund, Naples, Dusseldorf-Weeze, Brussels Charleroi, Treviso, Trieste, Bari, Pescara, Eindhoven, and Cagliari. A total of 130 buses will be used to transport about 6,000 people to Catania.
Even the flights Catania to Pantelleria (operated by Dat) were moved to Trapani.
Aeroitalia on Comiso
The airline Aeroitalia, however, extended until July 22 the increase in direct flights from Comiso by operating three flights per day between the Hyblaean airport and Rome Fiumicino and up to two flights a day between Comiso and Milan Bergamo.
Wizz Air, easyJet and Volotea are also operating a number of flights over Comiso Airport.
