Just a few days after Ryanair suddenly announced it would be leaving Comiso, southeastern Sicily, over a spat with the airport operator, competitors are trying to scramble its way into benefitting from this departure.
Wizz Air’s homepage of its Italian website, for instance, gave the Irish carrier a temporary «last laugh» by offering affected customers rescue fares. «The skies are more pink than blu!», said the announcement; «Rescue flights to the passengers affected by the Ryanair cancellations.»
Rescue fares are a PR tool that is often used by Ryanair. In the last year alone, the ultra low-cost announced such campaigns in five different occasions — in Italy alone — to clinch customers affected by Wizz’s retreats from the country.
Wizz does not fly to Comiso, so passengers affected would be rerouted through Catania, the Hungarian airline’s single base in Sicily, some 90 minutes away from the region by car.
Meanwhile, less than two days after the official announcement from Ryanair, Aeroitalia announced it would start flying to Comiso. The news was broken by the Regional President of Sicily, Renato Schifani, who stated that it had spoken with the CEO of Aeroitalia, Giornale di Sicilia reported.
While sales were expected to be online by Monday, they were already on Aeroitalia’s channels by the night. The airline will serve, from May 15, Forlì, Milan/Bergamo and Rome/Fiumicino.
According to a post by Sicilia in Volo, an association of Sicilian aviation enthusiasts that promotes aviation in Sicily, the timings show that Aeroitalia will base an aircraft in Comiso, something Ryanair did not do.
The route to Bergamo, currently operated three times a week by Ryanair, will be operated four times a week — from Lombardy, the Irish ultra low-cost also serves Comiso from Milan/Malpensa. As for the flight to Rome (operated six times a week by Ryanair), it will be operated daily.
Aeroitalia already expected to serve Comiso from Forlì starting in June, albeit sales were made by Go To Fly, a company led by the managers of Forlì Airport — which, in turn, is an hour away from Bologna by car.
