The International Airlines Group once again raises the stakes on Florence. The group born from the integration of the British Airways and Iberia reinforces its presidio over the Amerigo Vespucci airport just a few months after the announcement of Veuling’s “Piano Italia” with which the low-cost IAG vector has broadened the choice connections to Rome and Florence.
Beginning in March, the Tuscan capital will be in direct contact with downtown London, an important offer, especially for the business clientele that travels between central Italy and the British capital. British Airways will be offering the new flight from the Amerigo Vespucci airport to London City, the most central layover in the city that registered a transit of 3.4 million passengers in 2013. The new route will be inaugurated on March 31st and will consist of four weekly flights operated on jets with approximately one hundred seats.
“The route that connects the city of Florence with the airport in London City represents a great advantage for the entire Tuscan territory, which will now be directly connected to the heart of London, an increasingly attractive destination for both tourists and business people – commented Mark Moscardini, British Airway’s Regional Manager for South Eastern Europe, adding that – this new route is also a bonus for all the British citizens that wish to visit the Tuscan capital.” The offer on Florence is part of a large program to strengthen the connections from the London City Airport, which plans on investing 200 million pounds to widen the airport’s network.
As stated, just a few months ago another vector of the IAG group had confirmed their attention for Italy and for Tuscany by announcing six new Veuling connection from Florence (Bari, Palermo, Ibiza, Mikonos, Santorini and Cagliari), beginning this summer.
For the Florentine terminus, the announcement of new IAG group connections comes at the end of a 2013 that set records for the terminal. According to the what the Aeroporto di Firenze management company communicated before Christmas, the airport’s annual passenger traffic exceeded 1.9 million, surpassing the maximum values registered in 2008. Marco Carrai, the company’s president, announced that “2014 will be the year in which we will cross the 2 million passenger household, in which we will unveil the master plan, and we will give start for the procedure for the creation of the new runway and the constitution of the holding in Pisa.” “We will further develop the traffic through new routes and by strengthening many of those already in existence – added managing director Mauro Pollio – we will launch an important restructuring of the company, in order to better define the profile of airport management company, in order to guarantee services with constantly increasing quality; we will improve the profitability of internal and external spaces, returning car rental companies to airports, opening new commercial areas, redesigning and constructing new apron for aircrafts in order to improve the boarding and disembarking performance.”