Montichiari Airport Expands International Flights to US and Europe
Not just London anymore. Starting May 7, anyone wanting to travel to New York will be able to take a flight from the «D’Annunzio» airport in Montichiari. The flight will stop in Rome, and with a convenient connection, ticket in hand, travelers can board a flight to the United States. The efforts of «Catullo» spa (which manages the Montichiari airport) to find a solution to the absence of flights to Rome (which lasted about a month), after Air Dolomiti’s withdrawal, have thus found an unexpected and certainly satisfying outlet for all Brescia residents.
New routes and important connections
Starting May 7, flights to Rome Fiumicino, already announced, will resume, guaranteed by the Venetian airline Alpi Eagles, but a direct line to Naples will also open, facilitating transit to Sicily, along with two weekend connections to Olbia in Sardinia.
If we add that with «Bottega dei Viaggi» and Nouvelair, it is already possible to land after 90 minutes of flight in Monastir, Tunisia, via a Wednesday charter flight, then we can truly say that Montichiari has an international airport connected with Europe, Africa, the United States, and the Mediterranean islands.
The only remaining targets are other European destinations (for example, Paris, Minsk, Barcelona), but it is not excluded that good news will come from the press conference already scheduled for Friday, May 4, at the Montichiari airport, in the presence of top provincial and regional authorities who have already played, sometimes decisively, a role in the history of «D’Annunzio»: «Catullo» spa, the Province, and the Brescia Chamber of Commerce, along with the Municipality of Montichiari.
History and developments of Montichiari airport
A recent history, that of «D’Annunzio», started in March two years ago: the military airport, after 50 years, was opened to civilian flights to cover the closure for renovations of the «Catullo» in Verona-Villafranca. A hundred days of glory for the Brescia airport, which cost 40 billion lira, followed by the long transition period, which now seems finally to have come to an end.
Guido Galperti, regional councilor and Brescia delegate (on behalf of the Province and the Chamber of Commerce) on the board of «Catullo» spa, does not hide his satisfaction: after the discouraging days of the stop to Rome, he sees «that patient attitude and trust in the potential and practical vocation of the territory, as well as in the managerial capacity of Catullo, since an airport is not something you invent overnight».
The mayor of Montichiari, Gianantonio Rosa, also congratulates the managers of Catullo: «for their commitment and ability to concretely revive a facility for which I have never doubted its potential to develop better and better».
Moreover, the fact that the Province of Brescia remains willing to pursue a «positive social collaboration with Verona» was demonstrated by the meeting at Garda on April 25, attended by the three bishops and the three provincial presidents (Brescia, Verona, Trento), all partners of Catullo, interested in developing (besides projects of solidarity and Christian charity) also social projects (as reiterated in the speeches of the three presidents), including the «Aeroporti del Garda» project, launched in March ’99, also with their signatures.
The «provincial Transportation Assessor», Vigilio Bettinsoli, who was present at Garda, is also convinced that «the fruits of collaboration come with patience and determination» and adds that «consultations are ongoing to best realize the new management company for D’Annunzio and the new airline with Brescia capital».
New developments are expected by mid-May, after the elections. In the meantime, staff at «D’Annunzio» is enjoying the anticipation of revival and preparing for May 7, 10:05 AM, when the first Alpi Eagles Fokker 100 jet with 94 seats will take off from Montichiari heading to the capital. The other new flight is scheduled at 5:55 PM: the flight to Naples.