Catania Airport, flurry of international flights for future "Mediterranean hub"

Last September, unveiling a preview of the National airport plan, the press had emphasized the ambitions of Catania airport, which--according to Enac (National Civil Aviation Authority)--should in the future play the role of "Hub of the Mediterranean."

Mediterranean Hub Ambitions

An excellent slogan for an airport that is fifth in Italy in terms of passenger numbers and is already registering higher levels than pre-pandemic; but one that becomes unconvincing when it was pointed out that Catania should compete with Istanbul "to intercept incoming travelers from China, Korea, Japan and India, who currently make stopovers in Turkey."

A bit of a pushy ambition given that the brand new Istanbul International Airport is the seventh busiest airport in the world in 2022 with 64 million passengers and continues to grow At an impressive rate.

For its part, Catania can be satisfied with its just over 10 million passengers; in addition to the sharply rising numbers recorded in the first three months of this year. But the comparison with Istanbul should not even be ventured.

New routes for the summer

The Sicilian airport's summer operations, however, show great dynamism and a flurry of new and increasingly international routes that still make Catania an attractive stopover for many airlines. For the summer, in fact, Catania will be connected to 112 destinations, of which 88 are international and 24 domestic.

Among them, there are seven are brand new: Foggia in Italy, and then Belgrade, Edinburgh, Lourdes, but most importantly Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Cairo and Luxor (Egypt). New flights that demonstrate, therefore, some consistency with the Mediterranean Hub ambitions described earlier for Fontanarossa airport.

Riyadh can be reached by Wizz Air, while Cairo and Luxor are flights inaugurated by Air Cairo (a subsidiary of Egypt Air); Belgrade is a route operated by Air Serbia, Edinburgh by EasyJet, Lourdes by Volotea, and Foggia by Lumiwings.

Airlines increasing frequencies

The trend on the part of some international carriers, moreover, is to increase flight frequencies On routes already taken in previous years.

Flydubai, for example, increases from 3 to 4 frequencies per week to Dubai, while Wizzair inaugurates a flight to Milan Linate and adds frequencies to Tel Aviv, Bologna and Prague, as well as the resumption of connections to the Greek islands Santorini, Mykonos and Heraklion. Finally, the Hungarian carrier is also continuing its flight to Abu Dhabi in the summer, which achieved excellent results in the winter season.

On the ground of the connections with northern Europe, then, Jet2 chose to add rotations on Birmingham and Bristol - in addition to the three destinations already opened last year, namely Manchester, London Luton and Leeds - bringing the total number of routes served to five.

Major legacy airlines such as Air France, British Airways and the Lufthansa Group. maintain their important operations over Sicily, "even though there are still management difficulties due to staffing shortages at major European hubs," points out the same note from Sac, the company that manages Catania airport.

All international flights from Catania

The Sicilian airport's summer operation, then, is a very rich platter of international destinations ranging from North Africa to Central Europe to Asia.

La Germany remains the most connected nation: in fact, from Catania it is possible to leave for 10 German cities (Berlin, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Hanover, Munich, Memmingen, Stuttgart and Dortmund). Followed by France, with 9 routes (Paris Charles De Gaulle, Paris Orly, Bordeaux, Lyon, Lourdes, Marseille, Toulouse, Nice and Nantes) and the United Kingdom with 6 connections: London Luton, London Heathrow, London Gatwick and London Stansted, Leeds, Edinburgh, Bristol, Birmingham and Manchester.

La Greece increases its operations to Catania and confirms 4 routes (Athens, Santorini, Heraklion, and Mykonos) while Spain, Switzerland, Poland, Romania, and Egypt each see 3 routes to each country: Madrid, Barcelona, Seville - Basel, Geneva, Zurich - Warsaw, Katowice, and Krakow - Bucharest, Cluj, Iasi - Cairo, Sharm el Sheikh, and Luxor.

For the summer of 2023 it will also still be possible to fly from Catania to Austria (Vienna), Belgium (Brussels-Zaventem and Charleroi), Bulgaria (Sofia), Latvia (Riga), Luxembourg, Malta, Morocco (Casablanca), Holland (Amsterdam and Eindhoven), Hungary (Budapest), Czech Republic (Prague) Albania (Tirana).

And then, Israel (Tel Aviv), Dubai, Turkey (Istanbul), Denmark (Copenhagen), Sweden (Stockholm) Norway (Oslo), Abu Dhabi, Saudi Arabia (Riyadh).

Fontanarossa's Italian operative

On the national front also comes the company Aeroitalia after the sad interlude of the Catania/Trapani flight, the airline will connect Catania to Bergamo, in addition to the flights already operated to Forlì. Obviously confirmed are Ita Airways' routes from Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate; as well as all classic domestic destinations.

"The 2023 numbers allow us to breathe a big sigh of relief because they highlight the end of the pandemic effect and the global recovery of flights and travel. The launch of new international, as well as domestic, routes, some of which are in high demand by the territory and the market, such as Edinburgh, or such as those to Saudi Arabia and Egypt increasingly attest to Catania Airport's vocation as a Mediterranean Hub," he specified Nico Torrisi, chief executive officer of Sac.

From Catania there are flights to Alghero, Ancona, Bari, Bergamo, Bologna, Cagliari, Florence, Foggia, Forli, Genoa, Lampedusa, Milan Malpensa, Bergamo, Naples, Pantelleria, Perugia, Pescara, Pisa, Turin, Trieste, Venice and Verona.

One of the featured airlines is Volotea, which has as many as 7 destinations in its portfolio connected to Catania airport: 4 in Italy (Ancona, Olbia, Verona and Florence) and 3 in France (Toulouse, Nantes and Lourdes-both New 2023).