The expansion of Fiumicino airport is not to be done. The Ministry of the Environment headed by Sergio Costa rejected it the proposal to extend the Roman airport, considering it incompatible with the state nature reserve of the Lazio coast. “We have stopped the expansion of Fiumicino airport. It would have been yet another concrete speculation in an already tormented territory. For me this is a victory. The idea of expanding Fiumicino airport had been under discussion for many years and was going to impact a part of the Roman coast reserve, as well as it would have led to many expropriations for dozens of families, just to increase the airport grounds", commented the minister on the Facebook account.
The development plan of the Leonardo Da Vinci airport in Rome – Masterplan 2030 – was presented in 2017, but it was launched a good ten years earlier by Enac and Aeroporti di Roma, the 99.3% subsidiary of Atlantia, a Benetton family company. The project envisaged the construction of a new runway - Runway 4 -, the expansion of the aircraft aprons and the construction of flight infrastructures, a terminal system and an all new internal and external mobility system.
From Adr they let it be known that “we have been working for some time with Enac on the revision of the expansion project to combine airport development and environmental sustainability, with profound respect for the environment and the area surrounding the airport, in the face of constant growth in the volume of passengers and estimates for the development of air transport in the coming years, which make a increase of flight and ground infrastructures. Fiumicino is today one of the most sustainable airports in Europe, also from the point of view of land consumption. Furthermore, the development of Fiumicino Sud, which has satisfied the need to adapt the Terminals to the increase in passengers in recent years, was built with a brownfield logic without using a single square meter of additional land”.
According to some, the opinion of the Technical Commission of the ministry which deals with formulating the assessment of the environmental impact of new projects did not appear categorical: the mayor of Fiumicino Esterino Montino, openly opposed to the project, commented: “However, the ministerial commission leaves open the possibility of building a fourth runway, recognizing the need to develop the Fiumicino hub. This development, however, cannot be incompatible with the ecosystem and the reality in which the project is to be implemented and to the detriment of the Roman coast nature reserve”.
The associations, such as the Fuoripista Committee, and the parties, such as the M5s but also the Civic List of Zingaretti, who opposed the construction of the fourth runway, think about rejoicing. "We have been following the battles carried out by the committees of the area for some time and, together with them, we have presented documents to the Regional Council and to the Municipality of Fiumicino to oppose a project which, accounts in hand, has always proved to be useless and harmful". declared the representatives of the Zingaretti List to the Municipality of Fiumicino.
For off-road committee, for years in the front line against the project to double the airport, "it is a huge victory for the whole territory, a result for which we have been fighting for 12 years".
