Regional airports:a model to export

摘要

If we turn our lens to air transport in this dramatic period, we have a crisp view in the centre of the magnitude of the crisis for airlines and major airports, while the consequences for regional airports remain rather blurry around the edges of our field of vision. Europe, and Italy especially, have many such airports, which provide important benefits to local communities and various segments of the economy. Operating companies and geographical economic communities do what they can to maintain operativity and current investments, but without financial support it will soon be a mission impossible. The support will certainly have to cover damages from the crisis, but must also finance investments. There are some inescapable issues regarding investments: the discontinuity caused by the crisis is deep and still of uncertain scope. Many infrastructure and service deveiopment plans may no longer be sufficient for future challenges andmany projects thathave already been designedmaynolongerbe sustainable. How do we address these dangers? And what opportunities lie in store to exploit the halt in traffic and the possible injection of public funds, such as those that may come from the Next Generation EU fund?