Montichiari Airport Handles Surge Amid Verona Closure Despite Challenges
Whatever the most prevailing opinion may be, the fact remains that yesterday, the Gabriele D’Annunzio airport in Montichiari experienced a classic big day. The Catullo airport in Verona was closed from 9:45 am to 5:45 pm (the flight suspension was necessary to defuse a bomb found near the Verona airport), and air traffic to and from Verona was diverted to Montichiari.
Even if for just one day, in short, the D’Annunzio airport returned to full operation, just like last year, when it had been called to replace Verona’s airport for several months. Yesterday, indeed, Montichiari recorded 20 flights (20 arrivals and 20 departures), instead of the usual 3 on a Sunday. All this involved over 2,000 passengers.
These numbers could have overwhelmed the airport, but… “Instead,” states Operations Director Enrico Pizzini with satisfaction, “everything worked wonderfully because we managed to reschedule the timings according to the traffic of both airports. Naturally, in the rescheduling, we considered the bus travel times for passengers moving between Verona and Montichiari.”
The result is that, among the thousands of travelers who transferred through Montichiari yesterday, only two foreigners failed to catch their connecting flight. Proof that there were no problems and, practically, no complaints…”
That’s right, says Director Pizzini. However, since we are like Thomas, we went around the airport asking passengers how things are. “No problem,” says a gentleman waiting for his flight. “We were informed three days ago about the change… The only thing they didn’t explain was why Catullo was closed. That detail didn’t affect our trip at all, then…”
“No problem,” echoes a young traveler. “The only inconvenience we had to endure was the unavoidable journey from Verona to Montichiari. Apart from that, everything is okay.” Similar responses also came from other travelers we interviewed.
So, one of two: either it was pure coincidence that we only encountered satisfied passengers, or things really are just as the Operations Director told us. Confirmation that everything went well also comes from the Police.
“Despite over two thousand passengers,” assure Senior Inspector Marco Scalvini and his deputy Tommaso Bellonese, “we did not notice any issues. Since this morning, everything has gone smoothly. At 9:30 am, as planned, 162 Belarusian children hosted by local families arrived. From that first arrival, everything continued in the best way possible.”