One thousand euros for a Rome-Palermo flight, the Region: “It’s a shame”

PALERMO – «I received a message from a friend, a Rai executive: he wanted to come to Sicily from 29 to 31 May but for two plane tickets from Rome to Palermo Alitalia asked for 993.62 euros. If you spend a thousand euros to come to Sicily after a year and a half of pandemic, everything we are doing to revive the economy and tourism is useless ». Thus the vice president of the Region, Gaetano Armao, at a press conference for the presentation of the “SeeSicily” campaign, the tourism promotion project of the Region.

“It is a shame, there is a system that continues to penalize Sicily”, remarked the regional councilor for tourism, Manlio Messina. According to Manlio Messina, “there are airlines that make a cartel, it is clear and we have to say it. The spaces are there, the offer is there but the companies do not come to Sicily, apart from the summer period. There is a situation that does not fit, the ministry must verify. The connections from Palermo and Catania with Rome Milan are the most popular routes, despite this there are free hubs. It doesn’t exist anywhere, only in Sicily ».

«On the recognition of territorial continuity for Sicily – said the governor of Sicily, Nello Musumeci – the former minister De Micheli has never answered me. I put the topic to Minister Giovannini. The EU does not recognize this type of activity except with a quota paid by the Region. I don’t think there is full will on the part of Rome and Brussels, we are not giving up. An agreement is possible, is the answer, if the number of passengers is very low: we should apply it to Sicilians, 5 million people. I assure you that as soon as the technical table with the Ministry of Transport is formally opened, one of the three issues will be that of social tariffs at least linked to Sicilians, even if it would be useful to apply it to tourists as well ».