Congratulations on your appointment as President of IBAR (the Association that gathers the representatives of more than 100 national and international carriers operating in Italy). What situation have you found in the airline industry and what do you hope to achieve during your mandate?

Thank you for your congratulations. The air travel business is in good health, and proof of this comes from the 165 million passengers who transited Italian airports in 2016. It is a strategic industry for a country with a strong tourist business and a rather complex mountainous landscape like Italy; and most of all, it is an industry that is undergoing an extremely rapid transformation. As mentioned, the volume of passengers is growing while the number of employees hired directly by the airline carriers is steadily declining. This may be a problem for carriers, which are from time to time involved in restructuring processes, or also for their employees. The fundamental fact, however, is that the airline industry, as a whole, is one of the largest employers: the aviation industry in Europe, directly and indirectly, provides nearly 12 million jobs. It is worth noting that nowadays only one out of every twenty of these workers is directly employed by the arriers. *

The IBAR team's commitment will be to continue to ensure the right to mobility, by continuing with the cost containment policy that turns into tangible benefits for our customers. Our hope is that the strategies adopted by other important links in the supply chain, for example, by Airport Management Companies, do not thwart our efforts.

Given the current situation, do you think that Enav has done enough in the containment of tariffs, to help airlines adequately?

Companies have been engaged in a fierce cost-cutting battle for at least a decade. We welcome, with satisfaction, a measure that goes in this direction, in the hope that the ATC service in Europe can, in the future, further reduce its operating costs arising from what is, in our opinion, an excessive level of fragmentation.

The civil aviation authority, Enac, for the major airports and the Transport Authority for the rest of the National Airport System. A dual set-up that is not always easy to deal with...

The main mission of our Association is to maintain effective and productive dialogue with Institutions and Regulatory Authorities. We believe that a free market can function effectively, only if there is strong regulation that ensures, for example, transparent and non-discriminatory terms of access to infrastructural facilities. Italy chose to have not one, but two regulatory authorities: as you know, the EU placed a question mark by this decision and we are eagerly awaiting the outcome of their investigation. In the meantime, of course, we ensure our full cooperation to all the Institutional Bodies responsible for monitoring the industry.

After the crisis of recent years, what future lies ahead for the “flag-ship” airlines and low cost airlines?

That's the question that everyone is asking themselves these days, including those within the industry, but there is no clear answer yet.

One school of thought that is currently gaining momentum and I share this view, is that the two business models are no longer in opposition, but rather increasingly oriented towards establishing some form of cooperation.

It is still rather too early to say what format this kind of cooperation might take; I think it is almost inevitable, though, given that – at least in Italy – both low-cost carriers and traditional Airlines operate side-by-side at major hub airports in the country. But this is another subject that might take us far away from today's topic of conversation.

* Aviation beyond borders (OCT16)