F L Y I N G T O I T A L Y
Working in aviation law, Franco Campomori
encounters the tax issue often. “The passenger
tax is applied to flights to Italy, from Italy
and within Italy and in itself it’s a huge
amount, especially if you compare
it to similar taxation throughout
Europe,” he says. “It’s damaged
the industry. Rome to Milan
was once the busiest flight
route in Europe, but the tax
and increasing competition
from high-speed train
connections has effectively
killed it.
“The tax was introduced in
2012, with a luxury taxation also
applied to yachts. They reviewed
the legislation around yachts and
dropped it, but for aircraft it lives on.
“There has been lobbying activity to
drop the tax, including from foreign operators
and the European Business Aviation Association. It applies
to passengers, but also if you want to base your private
jet here – the result is that not many people do, and the
sales of jets into Italy are lower as a result. It’s a barrier to
the industry.”
Likewise, Clemens Toussaint is critical of the tax: “Aircraft
registration numbers are increasing all over Europe, but
decreasing in Italy, and the luxury tax is responsible,”
he says. “It’s actually costing the government, because
the industry has taken a hit. Nobody wants to base their
aircraft here and would rather fly in from outside to pick up
passengers, while the passenger tax affects charter clients.”
Embracing the future
It seems that while there is great potential
for the Italian business aviation sector,
challenges remain, with the luxury tax
increasing the cost of charter flights and
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reducing the appeal of owning and
storing a private aircraft in Italy.
Loris di Filippo, CEO of Argos VIP
Private Handling, one of the largest
FBO networks in Italy says, “Business
aviation in Italy is growing but not as
much as it could. Our country has huge
potential, but airport authorities are still
more focused on commercial aviation.
Bureaucracy is also not helping with
the sector’s expansion.”
Dorigotti is positive about the
future. “I think Milan will remain the
market leader, but we’ll start to see
business aviation develop at regional
airports too,” she says.
“We get a lot of traffic
from the Middle East and
China and there is potential
here for combining first class and
business aviation. A passenger could
arrive on first class with an airline, then
jump onto a private jet to travel elsewhere.”
Milanese is just as intrigued to see
what happens next. “There’s a challenging
but bright future ahead,” she says. “We
have some exciting opportunities, but
private jets need to be embraced more by
regional airports.”
After finding success with Riviera
Airport, Clemens Toussaint believes other
opportunities exist. “There could be more
dedicated airports for business aviation, for
example in Tuscany."
Trip planning
Stefano Bruno, station manager for
Universal Aviation Italy, on planning a
trip to the country:
All applications for landing permits
are made to the Ente Nazionale per
l’Aviazone Civile (ENAC) – the Italian Civil
Aviation Authority. Aircraft registered
outside of the EU will require a permit.
If you have 19 seats or less, only
an annual permit is available, but it
covers an operator’s entire fleet (taking
20 business days to process if you’ve
landed within the EU as a charter during
the last two IATA seasons, otherwise 45
days). If you have more than 19 seats, a
different permit is required, valid for the
year or as a one-off, and taking 45 days
to process.
If the aircraft is EU registered,
regardless of seats, you don’t require
a landing permit. However, you should
still submit a ground handling request
and a flight plan.
“The landing permit specifies which
of the Airports of Entry AOE you
may travel to within Italy. To get to a
domestic airport, you must first arrive
or depart via an AOE,” he says.
Also for domestic travel, you must
not board any additional passengers
that you did not bring into the country.
Short-notice requests for permits
are not normally possible, but once
approved an operator may travel to Italy
without notice.
Application for landing permits
concerning all-inclusive tours and
ad-hoc flights must be submitted five
days in advance of a single flight and
15 days in the case of a series of flights.
Here, the origin and return destination
outside of Italy must be the same, only
for aircraft with more than 19 seats.”
“Our country has
huge potential, but
airport authorities are
still more focused on
commercial aviation”
Loris di Filippo, CEO of Argos VIP
Private Handling
Below: caption Riviera Airport is
in the north west of Italy and is
close to Cannes and Nice
in France
Below inset: The new VIP lounge
opening at Riviera Airport in
September this year