After achieving a historic record in 2023, Italian airports have further enhanced their performance in the first eight months of 2024 in passenger traffic. The return to pre-pandemic annual levels now seems to be established in Italy, the first European country hit by the health crisis four years ago, moving from a minimum of 100,000 travellers in April 2020 during full lockdown to a peak of 23.5 million last August, a month that is traditionally high for air traffic in the skies over Italy.

As mentioned, the growth trend covers the entire period from January to August: there were 146.9 million passengers, marking an increase of 11.6% compared to the same period in 2023. Two-thirds into the current year, the course seems to be set for surpassing the figures of last year, which nearly reached 200 million travellers, an all-time record of 197.2 million over the 12 months, exceeding by 2.1% the 2019 figures, the last record year not yet affected by the pandemic crisis.
 

Traffic in detail

More passengers with fewer aircraft, despite a lower number of movements (-2.6%) compared to 2019 (1.6 million units). The aircraft have travelled with a more efficient load capacity compared to the past, promoting environmental benefits. From August 2024, movements have risen by 8.9% compared to the same time frame in 2023.

And while the post-Covid recovery phase had seen the domestic market play a central role, 2023 marks the full recovery of the international segment, the most significant part of air traffic, with 128 million passengers, 0.1% more than in 2019. This figure continues to increase in 2024 by 14.8% (year-on-year) in the first eight months (98.1 million units), along with the national figure showing a +5.6% (48.4 million).

In the same period, the volume of air cargo reached 824,670 tonnes, an increase of 17.9% compared to the previous year. However, the cargo sector is coming from a slightly downward trend in 2023, influenced by the economic and geopolitical context, with 1 million tonnes handled, -1.5% compared to 2019 and -1.6% compared to 2022.  Milan Malpensa airport is the national leader for cargo traffic, handling 65% of the country's air cargo, followed by Rome Fiumicino, 18%, Venice, 4.2% and Bologna, 4%.
 

A record-breaking airport

The first place in passenger traffic goes to Rome Fiumicino airport, which in 2023 welcomed 40.5 million travellers, marking an increase of 25.6% compared to 2022 and 11.0% compared to 2019. The growth trend continues into 2024, already reaching 32.8 million travellers and a 24.9% year-on-year increase in the first eight months. Record-breaking days contributed to this result, such as 14 July when the capital's airport recorded a peak of 176,000 passengers transiting in a single day.

Leonardo da Vinci Airport ranks among the most important airports in the world and is the largest Italian hub for international and intercontinental traffic, with its 29 square kilometres, with approximately a hundred airlines in operation. In addition to the most popular summer destinations in the Mediterranean, the airport has recently opened new connections such as Izmir, Nuremberg, Hannover and Brest. Among non-European destinations, New York remains the top destination, while new top destinations such as Riyadh, Accra and Dakar are emerging.

Inaugurated on 15 January 1961, the Roman airport has always been able to renew itself. In terms of sustainability, it was the first airport to obtain Level 4+ 'Transition' certification, the highest level of the 'Airport Carbon Accreditation - ACA' programme promoted by ACI Europe, based on the reduction of direct and indirect CO₂ emissions in airports.

In 2024, it secured its status as Europe's best airport for the seventh consecutive year, ranking first in the hub category with more than 40 million passengers, and was once again awarded the Best Airport Award by Airport Council International (ACI) World, which independently measures passenger satisfaction at major global airports. The prize is not the only one awarded to the system managed by Aeroporti di Roma. For the first time, in fact, Ciampino's Giovan Battista Pastine has also been decreed 'Best Airport in Europe among those handling between 5 and 15 million passengers'.

New challenges

During the first six months of the year, Italy registered the highest growth rate in air traffic across Europe, surpassing France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Spain, in terms of both route and terminal aspects. There are, however, numerous challenges looming on the European horizon whose effects reverberate across Italy's skies: from staff shortages, a legacy of the pandemic period, to extreme weather events that necessitate route changes, clogging flight corridors with increased delays due to difficulties in ground operations and cancelled flights, from cyber threats to geopolitical instability.

An ever more complex scenario that in the coming years will present a major stress test particularly for Italy, which will have to manage major globally-recognised events drawing a greater number of visitors to its main airport hubs: Rome with the forthcoming Jubilee 2025, and Milan and Venice with the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics 2026.

Getting to the airport by booking an autonomous electric shuttle or a taxi-drone from your home, hotel or station to take you directly to the micro-terminal. Entrusting your luggage to a personalised collection and delivery service and get through the boarding process without interruption, with biometric recognition. Buying a meal on e-commerce and receiving it from a robo-delivery in the lounge, waiting for the gate call with a notification on your phone.

It is a possible portrait of the intermodal, digital, personalised and green experience available in the world's airports to every user in the next 20 to 30 years, open and integrated with the urban fabric, automated and powered by green energy. 

The scenario is described in the report The evolution of airports - A flight path to 2050 prepared by Oliver Wyman, the Airports Council International (ACI World) for the world's airports and the Centre for Sustainable Global Tourism (STGC), incubated by the Saudi Arabian Ministry of Tourism.

Amidst the challenges of innovation, decarbonisation and increasing demand, the authors predict that, by 2030, the global commercial fleet will expand by 33 per cent to over 36,000 aircraft; passenger traffic will grow by 5.8 per cent each year between 2022 and 2040 and 19 billion travellers will pass through the world's airports each year by 2040. So how will airports change by then? Here arethe five megatrends identified by the report. 

Zero net emissions

Aviation contributes about 2 per cent of total emissions and airports account for 2-5 per cent of this share. Aiming for the Net Zero 2050 objective set by the Paris Agreement, airports will become hubs and producers of green energy, capable of delivering available resources externally and adding this revenue stream to their business model. They will have to reduce consumption in their ecosystems, use CO₂ capture (CCUS) technologies, adopt sustainable lighting and air conditioning (they consume 46% of energy).

Facilitating the availability of alternative fuels to flight operators will become crucial, with the start of the commercialisation of SAF by 2030. By then, there will be 5.4 billion gallons of SAF available, but at least 16 billion gallons would be needed to keep emissions at the 2019 level.

Service vehicles at the airport will be electrified, as will flights on short-haul routes. These, together with hydrogen-based technologies expected around 2035, should help reduce noise pollution. As airports develop new solutions, sustainable construction techniques and retrofitting, consideration should be given to the carbon credit system. 

Technological innovation

Seventy-three per cent of passengers already agree to share their biometric data in favour of greater efficiency. The international biometric digital identity will enable the integration of control processes for security at walking pace already on the means of transport from the city to the gate, transforming airport transit in an automated, mobile and contactless manner. A single digital source will confirm identity, health, passport, travel info and visas, but regulators and industry will have to establish sharing policies while maintaining data security and protection.

The deployment of AI, IoT and machine learning will enable an improved management of operations, as well as baggage tracking without paper and tags or with electronic tags. Large lobbies for sorting will no longer be necessary and the development of digital twins will favour effective, real-time predictive management from a control room.

3D printing can facilitate maintenance, drones will be able to monitor the status of systems and aircraft, while a fleet of robots will be at the service of customers for delivery or to clean environments. 

Intermodal connectivity

Electrification and automation will require coordination between airports, flight operators and public transport agencies, such as the railways. Integrated investment and connection strategies would favour community hubs, connected to different types of mass transport.

The use of cars to the airport would be discouraged, reducing the importance of parking as a source of revenue in favour of specialised terminals with dedicated access from the city centre to the gate seamlessly and multimodally, to reduce traffic and inefficiencies.

This will also happen with the integration in the infrastructure of vertiports for the development of Urban Air Mobility thanks to the deployment of eVTOLs. Such a system will be able to connect neighbouring cities and ultra-fast rail networks, offering more options at inter-regional level. In the long term, it is also possible to imagine greater integration between cargo and passenger mobility, particularly for tourist destinations that suffer from seasonal variations. 

Changing work

About 54 per cent of the 11.3 million people working in aviation are airport employees, but by 2021 the aviation workforce was 43 per cent below pre-Covid levels and has yet to catch up. The pilot shortage is a long-term trend, as 60,000 additional pilots are required by 2032.

All this threatens to limit the growing demand for travel, although automation may increasingly come to support a smaller, customer service-focused workforce. The skills required will be oriented towards soft skills on the passenger side and on the operational side with a focus on digital (data science, AI), cybersecurity, engineering and IT.

With four different generations of workers, airports will have to collaborate with universities to create interest and facilitate recruitment but at the same time encourage upskilling and reskilling of existing staff. 

The passenger experience

The image is that of real airport-cities (‘aerotropolises’) in terms of economy and infrastructure that will increasingly become part of the journey, with urban campuses equipped with offices, hotels, leisure offers, connected in different ways.

The expansion of airport capacity will require investments especially in the Middle East and Asia ($2.4 trillion, ACI World estimates). The interior spaces will be transformed, but due to an infrastructural legacy, some slipways will need time to integrate new functions into the architecture and revise the design. 

The disappearance of check barriers will provide new retail, relaxation and experience areas (cinemas, swimming pools, virtual reality gaming areas...) for new commercial and sales revenue opportunities. Lounges will grow in popularity, while long waits in the boarding queue will become a memory, thanks to the virtual queue service.

Personalised, on-demand, contactless and efficient: a tailor-made, enjoyable and environmentally friendly end-to-end journey is the goal that drives innovation and change at airports around the world.