The scandal of the inflated flights for Easter, from Rome to Catania 369 euros

Over 16 million Italians ready to leave for Easter and 25 April. Not counting the 2.5 million undecided, there will be at least 8 million Easter holidaymakers, of which 60% will spend 2 nights away from home, but one in ten – says the Confcommercio Tourism Observatory of SWG – “will lengthen” also for all week. Destinations within their own region for one out of two while, of the remaining half, 8 will travel elsewhere but always in Italy and 2 abroad. Seaside resorts are the most sought-after (22%) followed by cities of art and villages (together 28%) for a total expenditure of around 4 billion euros.

Students and workers will then move along the peninsula to spend the holidays with their families. Many of these will use trains and planes, but will have to bear significant costs for tickets, like those who decide to spend their holidays abroad. This was stated by Assoutenti, who carried out a study to understand how much it will cost to travel during the Easter period this year. «Those who decide to travel by plane to spend the holidays with the family will have to deal with heavy ticket price increases», analyzes Assoutenti.

For example, the one-way Rome-Catania flight on Thursday 6 April starts from 369 euros, the one to Palermo from 253 euros. Flying from Milan to Brindisi on the same date costs 182 euros. To reach Cagliari (one way, April 6) you spend 154 euros from Milan, 160 euros from Rome. To these prices it is then necessary to add the supplements for luggage, choice of seat, etc., reminds the association. Things aren’t better for those who opt for the train: assuming you leave on Thursday 6 or Friday 7 April, you’ll spend 95.90 euros with Italo from Turin to Naples, 92.90 with Trenitalia. Always with Trenitalia you need at least 104 euros from Milan to Salerno, 169.90 euros from Milan to Bari, and 164 euros from Turin to Reggio Calabria. Similar prices with Italo, where the Milan-Salerno route starts from 99.90 euros, but you get to pay at least 156 euros starting on Thursday 6 April on the Turin-Reggio Calabria route.

«The latest Istat data on inflation for March say that rail transport registers increases of +4.9% on an annual basis, while domestic flights are even more expensive than last year by +71.5%, international ones instead mark a +59% – explains the president Furio Truzzi – Increases which, especially in the air transport sector, make travel increasingly a drain on consumers, especially during holiday periods when Italian departures intensify. For this reason we ask the Government to intervene to supervise the behavior of the airlines that make connections to islands such as Sicily and Sardinia, while we appeal to Trenitalia and Italo to increase both the number of trains on the routes during the Easter period north-south, and the number of tickets at discounted prices for passengers», concludes Truzzi.