flights distributed in five other airports and bus-Corriere.it
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The fire in an area of Catania airport and the closure of one of the busiest terminals in the country pushes airlines to review flight scheduling by canceling some frequencies and moving others to neighboring airports.
A sort of permanent meeting between the carriers, the National Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC), Assoclearance and the local authorities has been activated since this morning. They will be the plants of Comiso, Palermo, Trapani, Lamezia Terme and Reggio Calabria to accommodate most of the flights initially planned to Catania. In Reggio Calabria runway 15 is also starting to be cleared to make more room for movement.
From the coaches they would then have to take the passengers to their destination.
Programming
Not currently clear how long will the closure of Catania really last. According to the data provided by the specialized ch-aviation platform, 120 departures from the Sicilian airport were expected on Monday 17th.
Two sources contacted by Courier explain that they are trying to figure out if it is still possible to get some flights to take off already on the afternoon of July 17 – because in fact the runway is intact -, even if officially Sac, the airport management company, explains that will remain closed until 2 pm on 19 July.
Anyone who has had the latest updates doesn’t rule that out full reopening could take more than a few days.
Eyes on Comiso
In the emergency plan that is taking shape, the focus is particularly on Comiso, a stopover about 100 kilometers from Catania, also managed by Sac. But in the alternative airport – from what we learn – the so-called touch & go can be guaranteed: the aircraft lands in Comiso, drops the passengers, then leaves again empty for Catania to stop where there is a sufficient number of pitches. Then it leaves again for Comiso, embarks the travelers and takes off towards the official destination. According to specialized databases Ryanair the company most present with about 40% of the market, therefore Wizz Air (16%), Ita Airways (13%) and easyJet (12%).
The links
The different airlines are still reviewing flight plans. Ita Airways expects to operate a total of 8-10 flights from Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino to Comiso on 17 July: the planes will disembark passengers and take off from the Sicilian airport for empty goods since some technical and infrastructural limitations do not allow the tricolor carrier basic operations such as check-in or baggage handling.
The reactions
Some other carriers have decided to cancel flights. All passengers who have been affected by a cancellation or airport change will be advised of their alternative travel options, Ryanair said. We will do our best to update customers about changes to our schedule as soon as possible, says easyJet who apologize for any inconvenience even though it was beyond our control.
The critical points
The other delicate aspect is that relating to land transport. In the draft of the emergency plan there is talk of a strengthening by the AST (Sicilian Transport Company) which will deploy additional buses to Comiso, even if it is not clear at the moment how many there will be. The other complexity for the companies derives from the moment: these days the Sicilian airports are almost at their maximum use and therefore there is not a sufficient number of free slots (take-off and landing rights) to absorb all the flights scheduled by/ for Catania. Added to the slots is the fact that the ground assistance currently present may not be sufficient.
(article being updated)
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