Low-cost airlines are reducing their presence in Italy. Over two million seats have been cut in the 2024 flight programs compared to the previous year. This is the data that emerges from the Cirium Diio analysis platform. Air carrier such as the Irish Ryanair, the British EasyJet, the Hungarian Wizz Air, the Spanish Vueling are disinvesting in domestic routes to concentrate on Italy-Europe ones. A Damage to our country, especially the south, which suffers from a chronic lack of infrastructure and alternatives in the transport sector.

"This decline is particularly evident in Southern Italy, such as Calabria and Sicily, accentuating the problem of poor connectivity in some parts of the country. Low-cost airlines seem to prefer to invest on routes between Italy and the rest of Europe, a due to economic reasons. The Belpaese has higher costs on average, such as the municipal surcharge for each departing passenger. Furthermore, the internal market is not very profitable for much of the year compared to international connections", declares Giacomo Francesco Saccomanno (Lega).

"Foreign low-cost airlines have overall reduced their share of supply on domestic flights from 67% in 2023 to 60% in the first nine months of 2024. However, they are increasing their supply on connections between Italy and the rest of the Europe", such as "Wizz Air and Volotea recording a 30% increase".

"In Southern Italy the reduction is particularly evident, with a lack of places for sale of 33% in Calabria and a reduction of 8% in Sicily. Sardinia and Puglia -adds Saccomanno- also recorded a drop of 6%. Overall, the low-cost airlines have cut 1.8 million seats in these four regions alone. It is necessary that all politicians commit themselves to ensuring that flights are restored, naturally taking users into due consideration to avoid, on the one hand, waste, and on the other, the isolation of the territories".