Tuscany’s Airports Struggling Despite Huge Increase in Flights

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The two main airports of the Toscana region, Pisa and Firenze Peretola, are experiencing a massive boost in flight numbers for the summer of 2022; passengers are cheering with a vast variety of destinations to choose from.  But not all that glitters is gold.

The good side

The two airports are getting a lot more traffic, increasing the connectivity of one of the most famous regions of Italy to the rest of the world.

In June 2022, many airlines, including Swiss International, Wideroe, easyJet, and flydubai announced new connections to those airports for this summer. Now, Dubai, Geneva, Berlin, Bergen, and other cities are reachable from the region. This means that Pisa has now more than 50 destinations to offer to travellers for the season, while Peretola has just shy of 30.

The downside

As mentioned at the beginning of this article, things are not going too well at the two facilities: lack of personnel, very old structures, and general disorganization are crippling the entire organization of Toscana Aeroporti, the authority for the airports.

As of late June 2022, 30 flights have been cancelled and workers went on strike once, promising more protests to come if the working conditions don’t improve drastically.

A member of the city council for Pisa, Giulia Gambini, told Pisa Today:

“The long wait for the air traffic to kick off again after the pandemic has turned into a disaster due to the run-down condition of the two airports and lack of workforce.”

You can find the whole statement at this link.

The solution is not certain

There are two possible solutions that Italian politics is willing to pursue.

The first solution is to simply invest more money in Peretola Airport and Pisa International so that both structures can be upgraded and have more than 120 regular destinations combined, all year long.

The second solution is to shut down or downgrade Peretola Airport, turning it into a GA (General Aviation) aerodrome, and turning Pisa into a powerhouse like Rome-Fiumicino or Milano-Malpensa.

Whatever the politicians decide to do, we shall wait until 2025 for a possible solution.