Preparing for take-off

摘要

"I 'M very, very happy to be CEO in this project, because I see Ilsa as the most interesting and exciting project in the railway sector, not only in Spain, but in Europe." Mr Fabrizio Favara was appointed CEO of Ilsa in September 2020 and is leading a busy period of work for the fledgling high-speed operator as it prepares to launch services in 2022. Ilsa is a consortium of Italy's state-owned operator, Trenitalia, which holds a 45% stake, and the shareholders of Spanish regional airline, Air Nostrum, which hold 55%. The operator was selected by Spanish infrastructure manager Adif in November 2019 as one of three winning bidders to operate a package of high-speed services on three corridors: 1. Madrid - Barcelona - French border (Corridor 1) 2. Madrid - Valencia/Alicante (Corridor 2), and 3. Madrid - Seville/Malaga (Corridor 3). Ilsa is set to go head-to-head with incumbent state-owned operator Renfe, and Rielsfera, a subsidiary of French National Railways (SNCF), as Spain finally begins to liberalise operation of its passenger network.