Bologna Airport: the runway closure for maintenance works impacts passengers’ growth in September

MARCONI AIRPORT: THE RUNWAY CLOSURE FOR MAINTENANCE WORKS

IMPACTS PASSENGERS' GROWTH IN SEPTEMBER

Monthly passengers over 700 thousand, down by 10.8%

Positive annual figures: passengers up of 2.3%, reaching 6.4 million passengers

Four days of closure for scheduled runway maintenance works in September produced a traffic decrease of 10.8% over 2017, down to 717,274 passengers. Such outcome was actually expected: without runway closure, traffic would have reached 820 thousand passengers, with an increase compared to 2017. In other words, the forced stop to flights for 102 hours meant the loss of approximately 100 thousand passengers.

In detail, international passengers were 553,264, whereas domestic passengers were 164,010. In heavy decrease flight movements (-12.4%), that were 5,555, and air cargo (-18.4%), with 3,125 transported tons.

The three most popular destinations were Catania, Barcelona and Palermo. The two Sicilian cities, in particular, recorded strong increase due to new frequencies operated by Alitalia. The top ten ranking includes London Heathrow, Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Rome Fiumicino, Madrid, Munich and Amsterdam.

In the first nine months of 2018, overall Bologna Airport passengers were 6,436,166 up 2.3% on 2017. Flight movements were 50.770, with a slight decrease of 1.0%. Also air freight recorded a decrease (-4.7%) with 29,619 transported tons.

Bologna, 8th October 2018

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Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport, classified as a "strategic airport" in the centre-north area of the National Airports Plan prepared by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, is now the eighth biggest Italian airport by passenger numbers, with more than 8.2 million passengers in 2017, of which 76% on international flights (Source: Assaeroporti). Located in the heart of the Emilian food valley and the automotive and packaging industrial districts, the airport has a catchment area of about 11 million inhabitants and around 47,000 companies, with a strong propensity to exports and internationalisation and with commercial expansion policies to Eastern Europe and Asia.

In 2017 106 destinations were served from Bologna: the presence at the airport of some of the largest airlines in Europe along with some of the leading low-cost carriers and the close link with International hubs make Bologna Italy's fourth airport for global connectivity (Source: ICCSAI - Fact Book 2017) and the first in Europe in terms of growth of connectivity in the decade from 2004 to 2014 (Source: ACI Europe Airport Connectivity Report 2004-2014).

As for airport infrastructure, the airport has among its strategic objectives in the next few years an important development plan that mainly concerns the expansion of the terminal, particularly in the parts of security checks and gate area. The company's aim is to make Bologna Airport one of the most modern and functional in Italy, an important gateway to the city and region.

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For further information:www.bologna-airport.it
Bologna Airport Press Office:	Bologna Airport Investor Relations:
Aeroporto G. Marconi di Bologna Spa	Aeroporto G. Marconi di Bologna Spa
Anna Rita Benassi	Nazzarena Franco
Press Office Manager	Strategy Planning and Investor Relations Director
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Tel: [phone]	Tel: [phone]