Declassification of Foggia's Gino Lisa Airport
29.1.2014
Question for written answer E-000924-14
to the Commission
Rule 117
Barbara Matera (PPE) , Lara Comi (PPE) , Erminia Mazzoni (PPE) , Marco Scurria (PPE) , Raffaele Baldassarre (PPE) , Sergio Paolo Francesco Silvestris (PPE) , Mario Pirillo (S&D) , Pino Arlacchi (S&D) , Aldo Patriciello (PPE) , Gino Trematerra (PPE) , Clemente Mastella (PPE)
Foggia’s Gino Lisa Airport has a potentially huge catchment area, not only in Foggia, which is Italy’s second largest province, but also in the neighbouring provinces of Puglia, Molise, Campania and Basilicata. Its geographical location could turn it into a hub for tourists visiting the glorious Gargano peninsula and inland Puglia with its wealth of historical and cultural sites, or those following the pilgrim route to places such as San Giovanni Rotondo.
European funding has been set aside for modernising airport facilities in Puglia, but a full range of services is still not available to the general public.
The Gino Lisa Project in particular is coming up against numerous obstacles, including the recent suspension of the tendering procedure for extending the airport’s runway. It is worrying, in terms of the region’s development and the revitalisation of local production, that the Region Puglia and the airport company, Aeroporti di Puglia, are taking resources away from struggling airports and redirecting them elsewhere. Given that Gino Lisa Airport is included in the EU’s cross-border strategies, it is unacceptable for the Italian Ministry of Transport and Infrastructures to declassify it, removing it from the map of national airports.
Failure to modernise Gino Lisa Airport is likely to shatter the hopes of a region that is determinedly seeking to develop itself, despite obvious structural and economic difficulties, in order to stimulate tourism and local production.
In the light of the above, we ask the Commission:
- 1.Has it received any information as to why Foggia’s Gino Lisa Airport, which is included in the EU’s cross-border policies, has been declassified by the Italian Government and removed from the Airport Plan? Could the Commission investigate this illogical step on the part of the Italian Government?
- 2.What measures can it take to prevent the airport from being declassified, so as to guarantee that the potential catchment area has an airport on which it can depend and which serves as a nerve centre for the development of tourism and the economy in the area?
OJ C 296, 03/09/2014