2016 which has just ended was the year of records for Toscana Aeroporti SpA, the company that manages the airports of Florence and Pisa, which exceeded 7,5 million passengers for the first time, recording a growth of 3,9% compared to last year. All historic records have also been broken for individual airports, both in terms of monthly traffic in December (+13,2% for Pisa, +26% for Florence), and in terms of annual traffic data.
Galileo Galilei Airport in Pisa
With 4.989.496 passengers, Galileo Galilei airport in Pisa has in fact almost reached the 5 million mark, recording an increase of over 180 thousand passengers compared to 2015 (+3,8%), an even more significant value if compared with the growth of 2,7% of aircraft movements reflecting an increase in the load factor of flights.
The 24 airlines operating at the airport have connected Pisa with 83 destinations, confirming the predominantly low-cost vocation of Pisan traffic, characterized by a high number of connections with fewer frequencies: among these, Ryanair has inaugurated new routes to/from Catania, Sofia, Berlin Schoenfefield, and Corfu. Easyjet has inaugurated new flights to Geneva and Basel.
Of particular importance is the opening of two new routes such as Doha – operated by Qatar Airways since August with considerable satisfaction for i
results for the first 5 months – and Moscow, inaugurated on 29 December and operated by Pobeda, the low-cost airline of the Aeroflot Group. London, Paris and Barcelona are the top three international destinations, while Palermo, Cagliari and Catania are the top three national destinations.
The cargo traffic data of the Pisa airport are also particularly significant, showing a growth of +18,2% (equal to +1.585 tons of goods and mail transported) thanks above all to the full operation of the import goods services of the courier carrier DHL.
Amerigo Vespucci Airport in Florence
The threshold of 2,5 million passengers was exceeded for the first time in Florence, with 2.515.138 people passing through the Florentine airport.
An increase of over 95 passengers (+3,9%) compared to last year, with an increase of around 4 percentage points in terms of aircraft movements, highlighting substantial stability in the load factor trend. The increase is therefore due
mainly to the increase in daily frequencies scheduled by the airlines on the main existing destinations.
The 22 airlines operating at the airport have connected Florence with 33 destinations, confirming in this case the vocation
predominantly of feeder hubs of Florentine traffic, characterized by a smaller number of direct destinations, but with a high number of frequencies: Air France to Paris with 6 frequencies, Lufthansa to Frankfurt, Air Dolomiti to Munich, KLM to Amsterdam in fact operate
with frequent daily flights in order to ensure a constant flow towards the European hubs.
Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam are in fact the main international destinations from/to Florence, while the national ones
they are Rome, Catania and Palermo. Important news in 2016 were: the opening of the Florence Chisinau flight by Air Moldova and the new operations on Tirana by Mistral Air and Albawings.
“A record year for Toscana Aeroporti and for the 2 airports of Pisa and Florence. The best confirmation of the validity of the strategic choice of integration between the two Tuscan airport management companies” stated the Chairman of Toscana Aeroporti SpA, Marco Carrai.
"These results, crowned by the arrival of one of the most prestigious airlines such as Qatar Airways after months of negotiations and meetings, allow us to look forward to 2017 with confidence".
"An extraordinary growth - said the CEO of Toscana Aeroporti, Gina Giani - despite the cancellation of the
Alitalia base in Pisa and the numerous diversions and cancellations due to weather conditions in Florence, crowned by the launch during the year of two new prestigious routes such as Doha and Moscow, bearing witness to the strong attractiveness of Toscana Aeroporti for international airlines”.
