Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, where traffic has been disrupted this year by a terminal fire, electrical failures, a smoky nearby forest fire and other problems, has left thousands of passengers disgruntled and angry.
Now, another voice has been added to the unhappy chorus: James Hogan, CEO of Etihad Airways and VP of Alitalia, which is 49% owned by Etihad, has threatened to pull Alitalia’s operations out of the airport altogether. In addition to the disruptions, he’s upset that the airport operators are too focused on serving budget airlines.
Hogan told Italian media that “If Fiumicino continues to provide mediocre services and concentrate on low-cost airlines, we will be forced to go elsewhere.” He added that incidents like the fire in Terminal 3 “can have an impact on confidence and the desire to invest.”
The Italian Minister for Infrastructure, who was at the conference where Hogan spoke, says that Italy is prepared to invest 800 million Euros in airport upgrades over the next few years. Etihad’s big investment in Alitalia, made last year, has given it virtual control over the airline.
