The Regional Council is stalling on the hot topic in Sardinia: eliminating the additional tax on air travel. This tax is particularly hard to tolerate, especially for Ryanair, which has threatened to reduce its flights if it remains in place, while also ensuring that the routes will be extended if it is abolished.
The debate was sparked by a motion presented by Brothers of Italy group leader Paolo Truzzu, which has already been postponed several times. The motion calls for the council to address the urgent need to "eliminate the municipal surcharge on passenger boarding fees in order to promote the development of air transport and tourism in Sardinia." This decision requires €35 million to be found if the tax were to be eliminated year-round, and €12 million if the reduction were to apply only to the winter.
The proposal requires the Regional Council to engage with the government to include the measure in the next national budget and to allocate approximately €32-35 million to the regional budget to compensate for the state's revenue shortfall. According to Truzzu, eliminating the tax would result in a significant increase in passengers and a boost in VAT revenue that would offset the initial investment. "The motion is dated July 2024, but given what's happening with fuel due to international politics, I'd say it's extremely relevant again," he began. Then the numbers: "Today, Ryanair is Italy's leading airline, with 65 million passengers, 500 aircraft, and the leading airline in Europe. Removing airport taxes as Friuli, Calabria, Abruzzo, and Sicily have done is no small feat. It has produced visible effects within a year, and traffic has increased by up to 35 percent."
The issue was also addressed during the last majority summit between the president and representatives of all the coalition parties, and the differences emerged between the PD and the M5S, who were more "cold" towards the proposal, and Orizzonte Comune, which represents the Tourism Councillor, Franco Cuccureddu, who is in favour of abolishing it but only in winter, as he underlined in his speech in the Chamber as a regional councillor.
Transport Councillor Barbara Manca spoke on behalf of the council, citing numerous discussions with airlines (17 with Ryanair), meetings with easyJet and Lufthansa, and stressing that the reduction in the tax could make a difference "in some conditions", but reiterating the need for a comprehensive framework and careful monitoring, including of flight cancellations.
"If the chamber rejects this motion," Truzzu emphasized in his final voting statements, "it will send a clear message to airlines, who will know that the matter in Sardinia is closed."
An argument that likely caught on: after a tactical pause to assess whether the conditions were right for reaching a compromise, President Piero Comandini adjourned the meeting until tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. A necessary pause to likely draft a joint text for voting. One that doesn't scare the companies.
(Unioneonline)