"We will not fly to Italy from Linate with ITA and Lufthansa slots." Interview with easyjet country manager Lorenzo Lagorio

Country Manager of easyJet since January 2019, Lorenzo Lagorio guided the British low-cost carrier in Italy through the stormy waters of the Covid pandemic, the closure of Terminal 2 at Malpensa and the relocation of operations to Terminal 1. And then during the last two years of exuberant demand growth, which marked a return to normalcy.

Last July 11 he was also on board the First flight between Milan Malpensa and Salerno-Costa d'Amalfi, which marked the reopening of the Campania airport to passenger traffic after eight years. And it joined the 21 airports on which easyJet operates in our country.

You are already very strong on Naples, where you also have a base. What drew you to an airport that is just 70 kilometers from Capodichino?
"The importance to us of Naples is not in dispute. We offer almost 4 million seats a year there, and we are noticing an increasing number of passengers getting on our planes to Sicily and Sardinia from the growing number of long-haul flights that land at Capodichino. That is, however, heavily congested. In this key, Salerno is a choice to strengthen our leadership in the Campania market, going beyond the operational limits of Naples."

 

Some kind of relief valve?
"I would say more a complementary airport to Naples that can expand our seat offerings and also the so-called catchment area, which at this point extends not only to all of southern Campania, but also to northern Calabria and part of Basilicata."

How many seats have you put on sale for this summer and what are the prospects for connections when the summer is over?
"The offer is about 50,000 seats on five destinations: Milan Malpensa, London Gatwick, which are also the company's two main hubs, Berlin, Basel and Geneva. Among these destinations, the one that has potential beyond seasonality, as it does not depend almost exclusively on leisure traffic, is Milan Malpensa, which will also be there in Winter with the frequencies, however, being reduced from the current three to two weekly."

The next few months will see you indirectly playing a leading role in the closure of the agreement between ITA Airways and Lufthansa, which will free up about fifteen pairs of slots at Linate. And you seem to be the 'pole position' to grab a big share of them....
"We cannot comment on the current process but we have always said that growing at a city airport like Milan Linate is in line with easyJet's strategy of developing at primary, accessible and well-connected airports to European cities. This would allow easyJet, which already flies to Linate from Paris, Amsterdam, Berlin and London, to further strengthen its offering at this airport."

How many slots do you think you can receive?
"This is an ongoing process, so we are unable to comment on future development plans at this time."

How do you plan to use those slots? Still to Europe or to try your hand at the domestic market from an airport that is highly valued by those flying domestic routes?
"The intention is to continue to grow on Europe, with new destinations or more frequencies."

And on Malpensa will we ever see a Milan-Rome?
"I know there is strong demand in the area for that link, but it is a point-to-point route that we do not find attractive at the moment."

Staying on the Capital, even considering additional slots that could come to you as a result of the ITA-Lufthansa agreement, is there a possibility that Fiumicino could become your base again, as Malpenza where you have 22 planes, Naples (8) and Venice (3) are?
"On Rome we already have an important offer, among the first in Italy, with about 1,700,000 seats a year. We operated the move from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1, which is newer and nicer and offers more comfort to our passengers. At this moment we cannot say more."

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