Sardinian airports: the risk of a private gift

Public investment in Cagliari airport continues to rise , exceeding €300 million , following the last €56 million agreed by SOGAER and ENAC through the 2025-2028 program agreement signed earlier this month. This guarantees the right to mobility in the island's capital. Nothing to worry about, the comment would be. Were it not for the fact that the Chamber of Commerce of Cagliari and Oristano, the airport's major shareholder with a 94.4% stake in the management company SOGAER, has been pursuing privatization since 2023, despite the opposition of the Court of Auditors and the National Anti-Corruption Authority (ANAC). The same goes for ENAC itself, as the Italian Civil Aviation Authority. At the local level, frictions are no less acute.

The fact that another €56 million in public resources will benefit a private operator , in this case the Ligantia F2i fund, a candidate for Cagliari after Alghero and Olbia, has the Sardinian CGIL union fuming. Arnaldo Boeddu, general secretary of FILT, first thinks in broad terms: "It is unacceptable to privatize an airport that generates €10 million in profits and handles more than €5 million passengers ." But the decision is even more jarring when "considering the additional €56 million in investments through 2028."