Continuity, one out of two flights is delayed. And that eight-hour gap on the Cagliari-Fiumicino route

Anyone leaving Fiumicino at the end of the evening has now put his mind at peace: now direct flights to Sardinia take off with a delay that can be up to three hours - Saturday, Sunday and yesterday it happened on the Rome-Cagliari - forcing passengers to review all travel plans. In Sardinian airports, almost one connection out of two does not respect the timetables. Last Sunday between Cagliari, Olbia and Alghero 160 planes left, of which 70 did not respect the scheduled times. Someone only missed by 20 minutes, others went much further.

The numbers

In the last weekend it was Ita Airways that complicated the plans of hundreds of travellers. In the airport of the capital between Saturday and Sunday, according to the data provided by the Flightradar24 site, the departure of 40% of the connections was postponed: 20 out of the 50 total flights scheduled between Cagliari and the airports of Fiumicino and Linate.

The flight plan

Meanwhile on the Cagliari-Rome route there are eight hours of "gap" between one flight and another. No flights from mid-morning to late evening. From 11.20 to 19.20 there is no departure. It is not a temporary reduction, the programming is definitive.

A flaw authorized by the ministerial decree (adopted in harmony with the Region) which regulates air connections with the airports of Rome and Milan. On the Cagliari-Fiumicino route, only one «intraday» frequency is foreseen throughout the year. What does it mean? The decree explains it a few lines later: it is the time slot that goes from 10 to 18. And given that the 11.20 flight is scheduled for these hours, there is no violation because the company respects the "minimum" schedule imposed by the ministry.

Strike

Today promises to be a difficult day for those who will have to take a plane due to the strike by workers in the airport sector. For now, nine connections have been canceled on the island: five by Ryanair in Cagliari, another two in Alghero and two by EasyJet in Olbia. On the Ita Airways website we read of 38 routes canceled throughout Italy for June 20, none of them concern Sardinia.

Michael Ruffi