Investments in technology to support the growing demand and need to "make a system": these are the two messages launched by the participants at the conference organized by Enav, the majority-public company that controls civilian air traffic in Italy and is listed on the Stock Exchange, in the splendid Roman setting of the Fuksas Lanterna.
Air transport can and must drive the growth of the entire Italian economic system, having important repercussions on the aggregate levels of consumption and employment. Our airports must be seen as nodes of a single large infrastructural network, abandoning the logic of analyzing investments as actions unrelated to the context. In a country like Italy that makes tourism one of the levers for the economy, it cannot be thought that transport costs are out of the market. In 2035 the number of world passengers will pass from the current four to seven billion units; for this reason we need faster investments and better administrative efficiency.
Among the speeches, the eagerly awaited one by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Graziano Delrio: “The aviation sector is the Cinderella of the sector. It deserves more attention, the growth in the number of passengers increases the demand and this requires the need for intelligent public intervention".
“To date – continued Delrio – the development of our first three airports (Rome – Fiumicino is the first airport in Europe for perceived quality – Milan and Venice) are at a level of excellence. The challenge now is to transfer their dynamism to the other structures as well. Italy has chosen not to close the airports, but to help them stay online".
Delrio also spoke on the topic of the moment, the situation Alitalia, considered the most punctual airline in the world in January, with 91,9% of flights respecting schedules: “there are no conditions right now for a sale before the vote on 4 March. We have always said that we would finish when the offer was up to par, with development prospects”.
Stefano was also present at the event Paleari, one of Alitalia's commissioners: “Air transport must be Italian high speed. The goal of institutions and companies must be to make the country more cohesive in terms of mobility.
According to data presented by Bain & Co, in 2017 air traffic in Italy grew by about 3% compared to the previous year and passengers increased by over 6%, with more than 140 million passengers in the past year Greater recourse to financial markets by air transport companies could speed up the development process.
Just like Enav did just a few days after Brexit. It is, still today, the largest operation in Europe after the British referendum. Enav is, according to Patrizia Celia of Borsa Italiana, a company capable of generating excellent levels of turnover, transforming it into cash flows and dividends for shareholders. Precisely for this reason, the quote book was hedged more than eight times, despite the market volatility of that period.
“Over the years Enav – declared the president Roberto Scaramella – has grown from an air force department first to a public economic body then, into a dynamic company, listed on the stock market, recognized and appreciated in the national and international aeronautical sector not only for his rieconomic and financial results, not only for its performance in terms of quality and punctuality (in 2106 we achieved the record of 0,002 minutes per flight for delays attributable to air traffic control), but also and above all for its technological content aimed at safe management of the airspace infrastructure”.
“Enav represents a virtuous case – continued Scaramella – in which institutional foresight and management quality have found a synthesis in an investment program in technological development of over 100 million Euros per year which allow us to be at the forefront of our sector and to be a reference point not only for operators in emerging economies but also for our counterparts in Europe and North America. Some of the projects we are carrying out, I am thinking of investments in cyber security, satellite surveillance, and new software for direct and linear overflights of our skies, take us concretely into the future and are now supported by a wider shareholder base.
I believe that when we can think of the entire air transport value chain in this way we will have done good for the development of our country”.
