Over 44.4 million passengers transited through the Roman airport system in 2023. The international airport of Rome Fiumicino, "despite the uncertain economic and geopolitical context that characterized the just concluded year", welcomed 40.5 million total passengers, an increase of 38% compared to 2022.
"G.B. Pastine" of Ciampino closed the year with 3.9 million passengers. This was announced by Rome Airports. With these record numbers, Fiumicino airport, the first and only airport in Italy with a Skytrax rating of 5 stars, achieved for excellent service standards, has thus recovered 93% of flights compared to the pre-pandemic period, particularly with reference to extra-European and European components (+76% and +30%). Cargo also grew, with a +37% on 2022, with a freight volume that, in the Roman airport system, approached 200 thousand tons.
The positive trend in passenger traffic, strengthened from Summer 2023, has allowed to "overcome uncertainties about development prospects that had characterized the years impacted by the sector crisis due to travel restrictions in almost all countries of the world". Outlining this positive scenario for the Roman market were the activation of 45 new air routes, of which 15 to destinations served with direct flights, combined with a program that involved around 100 airlines flying to 200 routes in over 70 countries, thus connecting the Italian capital with all continents.
New routes on North America, Europe and China recovering
The structural recovery of air transport, in addition to connections to Asia (particularly those to mainland China, managed by 5 airlines as in the pre-pandemic period), has mainly involved the North American market (USA, Canada and Mexico), "true protagonists of a program" that, in peak months, had up to 34 flights a day at Rome Fiumicino airport, of which up to 11 just for New York.
"A record offer also guaranteed by the new connections started by ITA Airways and the developments of American airlines that, on an aggregate level, have come to offer a number of connections growing up to 50% compared to the period before Covid-19", underlines Adr. In this context, "Leonardo da Vinci" is positioned as the third European hub after London and Paris for the number of routes to the Big Apple and among the fastest growing airports on flights to North America which, in February 2024, will reach up to 73 a week (+70% compared to February 2019). "The increasing trend in passenger traffic developed in the last semester of 2023, together with the increasing deseasonalization of air flows already evident at the beginning of this year, suggests record levels for 2024 with a further leap forward compared to 2019", highlights Adr.
Looking at the immediate future, key elements for consolidating the role of Rome Fiumicino airport are: the evolution of ITA Airways with the new destinations planned for Summer 2024 (Chicago, Toronto, Riyadh, Accra, Dakar, Jeddah and Kuwait City), the strengthening of activities by point-to-point companies (Ryanair and Wizz Air in the first place) and the routes being launched on short and medium-haul markets by international airlines such as SunExpress for Izmir, Eurowings for Hannover and Nuremberg, Volotea for Brest and Jet2.com for Edinburgh.
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