Ryanair curbs investment in holiday capital despite expected record visitors

Ryanair has said it would remove an aircraft from Rome Fiumicino and curb expansion at the Italian capital’s second airport due to rising costs and flight restrictions.

The news comes as the city braces for an influx of additional tourists in a Jubilee year.

The carrier has long argued with Italian authorities over fees and regulatory issues. It said in a statement that airport costs were set to increase by 15% in Fiumicino and 44% in Ciampino by 2028, with local taxes also on the rise.

“These restrictive policies are damaging connectivity, tourism and jobs in Italy, particularly in Rome, where enhanced air connectivity is needed to support inbound tourism during the Jubilee year,” said Ryanair, the largest operator in the Italian market.

The Jubilee, a Holy Year for Roman Catholics, is expected to bring up to 32 million tourists to the Italian capital in 2025 according to the Vatican. That will put a severe strain on the city’s infrastructure and transport links, including airports.

It has undergone two years of traffic-clogging public works upgrades of transportation, hospital emergency rooms and other vital services, testing residents’ patience.

But only about a third of the 323 projects have been completed, and the city is already groaning under the weight of overtourism. Visitors have returned to Italy in droves following COVID-19, and the explosion of short-term vacation rentals has exacerbated a housing crisis.

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Some of Rome’s prized monuments have reopened recently, including the Trevi Fountain. And the main Jubilee project was finished just in time: A pedestrian piazza linking Castel St. Angelo to the Via della Conciliazione, the main boulevard leading to St. Peter’s Square, was unveiled Monday.

Ryanair announced it would cut its investment by 100 million euros ($104 million) at Fiumicino. It also complained that limitations on the number of flights imposed on Ciampino due to the noise was damaging its business.

There was no immediate comment from Aeroporti di Roma, the company which operates the two airports.

“The Italian government continues to limit Rome’s tourism potential in view of the Jubilee 2025 by not removing the restrictive limit on flights at Ciampino, which could easily host twice as many daily flights as at present,” Ryanair executive Eddie Wilson said.

“If you look at it in the Italian context, we’ve got 65 million passengers here and that’s not just holidays, that’s a huge amount of domestic traffic ... and Italy just can’t seem to get enough of connectivity,” he told Reuters during a visit to Rome.