Alitalia (AZA, Rome Fiumicino) has confirmed it will suspend all services to Reggio di Calabria with effect from March 27, 2017. The Italian carrier currently serves the Calabrese airfield from each of Rome Fiumicino, Milan Linate, and Turin Caselle through a total of fifty-six weekly flights.
The carrier said in a press release this week its decision to close the routes follows more than twelve months of negotiations with local and regional authorities to try and find viable and sustainable ways in which the flights – that in 2016 brought losses equal to EUR6 million – could become profitable.
Alitalia says it had proposed applying for Public Service Obligation (PSO) grants in a bid to keep the routes alive. However, despite government cooperation, no positive solution was found and Alitalia’s proposals went unanswered by local authorities.
“We are commercially focused business and our decisions are made for economic reasons," Cramer Ball, Chief Executive Officer of Alitalia, said. "The Reggio Calabria services are losing money and that situation simply could not continue. We have spent many, many months talking with the local and regional authorities to save these services but, unfortunately, none of them were able to arrive at a solution. Alitalia remains available to discuss with the relevant authorities any new scenario and measures to be implemented immediately in order to restore sustainable services to and from Reggio Calabria airport.”
As it stands, Alitalia's withdrawal leaves Blue Panorama Airlines (Rome Fiumicino) as the southern Italian airfield's only scheduled commercial operator serving Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate.
