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Low-cost Airlines Generate Passenger Record at Turin/Caselle Airport in 2010

In 2010 the airline passenger total at Turin/Caselle airport rose to 3,560,179, more than 10% up on the 2009 figures. It is the best ever result for Turin's airport, although only slightly better than the previous record in the pre-crisis 2007 January-December period (3,509,253). Caselle rose to 12th place for the number of passengers in the national classification between the member airports of Assaeroporti.
All in all, this was an excellent result, considering the series of negative events during 2010 which led to the cancellation of more than 1,000 flights. These included the Icelandic volcano eruption which led to the temporary closure of most of northern European air space (536 flights cancelled in the period 15-21 April and 9 May); 52 flights cancelled due to the handling services strike on May 26; 291 flights suppressed between the 16th-19th July for runway maintenance; plus the cancellation of 132 flights to and from Turin due to the late snow storms at the main North European hubs.
In 2010, both domestic (1,179,232) and international passengers (2,137,842) registered an increase of 11%. Despite this, commercial aircraft movements decreased from 56,419 in 2009 to 54,840 in 2010 (-2.8%). However, Turin/Caselle kept its ninth position for aircraft movements in the 2010 Assaeroporti national statistics.
In 2010, Alitalia-Compagnia Aerea Italiana had the highest number of aircraft movements at Turin/Caselle airport with 13,792 take-offs and landings. Then came Lufthansa, Ryanair, Air France and Blu-Express. Low-cost traffic, operated by Ryanair, Blu-Express and Wind Jet, rose to more than 922,000 pax (+36% on 2009), accounting for 26% of the total traffic registered at Turin airport.
Route optimization saw Blue Air, Carpatair and Tarom leaving Turin, while other operators cancelled a number of connections. However 2010 also saw the opening of new routes, seasonal services or increased frequencies of existing flights. Ryanair started two new domestic flights to Bari, in January, and to Brindisi, in February. Ryanair also started international scheduled services to Madrid, in March, and to Ibiza, in May. In the same month, Air Italy started a regular flight to Rome while Air Malta, a newcomer, inaugurated a service to its home island. In June, Air Italy opened a seasonal service to Olbia (Sardinia), and a regular flight to Catania (Sicily) in July. Also in June, Blu-Express started a seasonal service to the island of Lampedusa, and the Albanian Airlines’ flight to Tirana became a daily service. In December 2010, a regular service to Olbia was inaugurated by Meridiana Fly, and Dublin and Moscow seasonal destinations were added by Ryanair and Wind Jet respectively.
In 2010, the best performing Turin-Rome/Fiumicino route, served by Alitalia-CAI, Blu-Express and Air Italy, generated more than 881,000 passengers, a 2% increase over 2009 (in pre-crisis 2007, the same route saw 939,766 pax). Second came the Turin-Naples service with more than 310,000 passengers served by Alitalia-CAI and Air Italy flights (351,582 in 2007). Third ranked destination was Catania - operated by Wind Jet, Air Italy and Meridiana Fly – outclassing Paris by generating some 297,000 passengers, with a significant increase over the previous record 226.459 pax totalled in 2007.
London kept its status as the preferred international destination from Turin. British Airways and Ryanair transported a total of some 235,000 passengers. Second ranking was Paris, connected by five Air France daily flights, followed by Frankfurt, Munich and Madrid (+36% thanks to the new Ryanair low-cost flight).
The main air operator at Turin/Caselle airport was Alitalia-Compagnia Aerea Italiana, which totalled 1.2 million passengers (+8%). The airline, after emerging from its collapse, established one of its subsidiary bases in Turin, with a network of six domestic - Alghero, Bari, Lamezia Terme, Naples, Palermo and Rome plus four international destinations - Amsterdam, Berlin, Istanbul and Moscow. In this first year of activity, the four international routes carried more than 75,000 passengers.
Second ranking at Turin, in terms of passengers, was Ryanair which, in 2010, transported some 494.000 people (+91%) with a mix of regular and seasonal destinations including Barcelona/Girona, Bari, Brindisi, Bristol, Brussels/Charleroi, East Midlands, Dublin, Glasgow, Ibiza, London/Stanstead, Madrid, Stockholm and Trapani. Lufthansa came third, with some 321.000 pax over a network including Frankfurt, Munich and Düsseldorf. Meridiana Fly, Blu-Express and Air France followed in fourth, fifth and sixth position respectively.
In 2010, Air Italy based one aircraft at Turin airport and recorded traffic increase of 68% over 2009, thanks to scheduled flights to Catania, Naples, Olbia and Rome. Between the other airlines operating at Caselle, Wind Jet scored +5%, Royal Air Maroc +4%, Lot +15%, Darwin Airline +140% and Luxair +4%.
The charter sector remained stable in respect of 2009, totalling more than 217,000 passengers. Thomson Airways, during the winter months, operated the major part of the traditional ski-flights from the UK, totalling some 60,000 pax. Thomas Cook Airlines came second (21,000), and Jet2.com third (more than 4,600). Some 4,300 Russian skiers arrived in Turin with Viking Airlines of Sweden, more than 3,000 with Aeroflot and Orenair. In 2010, outgoing leisure traffic included usual destinations such as Sharm El Sheik (25.000 plus passengers, +16%), Marsa Alam (some 19,000 +60%), then – by number of passengers - Monastir and Djerba (Tunisia), Ibiza (Spain) and Rhodes (Greece).
Cargo traffic totalled a little more than 8,500 tons (+20.3% over 2009), but Turin airport went down to 11 place, in the national ranking of Assaeroporti.
General aviation traffic, in 2010, registered increases both in aircraft movements (8,700) and in passengers numbers (7,600), that represented + 14.5% with respect to 2009.
In 2010, more diverted flights than in 2009 landed at Turin/Caselle, for a total of some 7,000 passengers. In particular, in January, a nmber of airport surrounding Turin were forced to temporary closing due to strong snowfalls. Turin/Caselle managed to stay operational and received, in few hours, 23 charter flights destined to Chambery, Malpensa and Linate airports, with some 2,000 skiers on board.

(Editor’s note: the total of the aircraft movements doesn’t include state, humanitarian and military flights. Also the over 600 test flights by Alenia Aeronautica, including a flight certification phase of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional airliner, are not accounted.)

(Aeromedia, January 2011)