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Lugano

Lugano Airport faces uncertain future: Search for private investors meets federal austerity measures

Amely Mizzi August 5, 2025 07:09

Lugano Airport was once considered a vibrant hub in Ticino, from which up to 32 scheduled flights departed. After bankruptcy and a long period of uncertainty, the airport is now once again at a crossroads. Officials in the city of Lugano dream of a return to its former glory and are seeking private investors willing to contribute at least CHF 30 million to finance the urgently needed renovation. However, these ambitious plans could be derailed by an unexpected development in Bern: The Swiss Federal Council plans to end financial support for regional airports. This would deprive Lugano Airport of a significant portion of its revenue and significantly complicate the search for private investors. An airport in a deep sleep: The current situation in Lugano. Anyone entering Lugano Airport today will find a functioning but unused infrastructure. Check-in counters, baggage drop-off, and customs control are available, but are not in use because there are no longer any scheduled flights. Airport director Davide Pedrioli leads a tour of the facilities with a mixture of pride and sadness. He emphasizes that everything is functioning, but the necessary passengers are missing. Following the bankruptcy of the former operating company and the discontinuation of scheduled flights, once operated by Swissair Express and later by Darwin Airline, i.e. Adria Airways Switzerland, the airport today serves primarily private aviation and business travelers. Around 10.000 people use the airport each year, primarily from Ticino and Italy, to travel to other European countries for business purposes. Despite the current stagnation, people in Lugano are not giving up hope. The airport is considered an important

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Lugano Airport between hope and fear

Stephen Steiner 31 May 2025 11:33

Lugano-Agno Airport once flourished with 32 scheduled flights, but after bankruptcy, the airport is now fighting to revitalize the site. While airport director Davide Pedrioli presents the functional but unused facilities with both pride and sadness, the financial outlook points to difficulties. Currently, the airport is primarily used by private and business travelers, with around 10.000 passengers annually. The city of Lugano is seeking private investors for urgently needed renovations, particularly of the office and restaurant buildings and a new hangar. City Councilor Filippo Lombardi emphasizes that no taxpayer money will be invested and that a public-private partnership model is being sought. The necessary investment is estimated at at least CHF 30 million. However, Lombardi is more concerned about the federal government's austerity plans, which call for stopping funding for security measures at regional airports like Lugano. This would cost Lugano around CHF 40 million in revenue, equivalent to almost XNUMX percent of the budget. Lombardi fears this could significantly complicate the search for private investors. While Caroline Camponovo of the Ticino Airport (VCS) criticizes the current subsidies for security costs, airport director Pedrioli hopes Bern will relent. The final decision by the Federal Council and Parliament is expected in the fall.

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Swiss and SBB extend cooperation and expand offer

Amely Mizzi September 19, 2024 10:04

The partnership between Swiss and the Swiss Federal Railways (SBB), which has existed since 2019, will continue indefinitely. The aim is to further improve the connection between rail and air traffic. From October 2, 2024, new destinations in the canton of Graubünden, including Chur, Davos, Klosters and St. Moritz, will be added to the network. This cooperation offers passengers seamless connections and flexible travel arrangements. The Swiss Air Rail network now includes 21 destinations and enables travelers to book flights and trains in one step.

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Flights & Travels cancels Silver Air Elba flights

Jan Gruber March 25, 2024 09:32

The Lugano-based company "Flights & Travels" will not organize any nonstop flights to the Italian island of Elba in the 2024 summer flight schedule. These had been in the portfolio for several years and were operated by Silver Air. The sales company offered the nonstop flights to Marina di Campo from both the Italian mainland and from Lugano in Switzerland. The operational operation was previously carried out by the Czech airline Silver Air. "Flights & Travels" has now announced that it will not organize any scheduled flights to Elba in the 2024 season. This offer will therefore no longer be available.

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Elba connection: Lugano's last regular flights

Jan Gruber June 1, 2023 04:33

Since the bankruptcy of Darwin Airline and the withdrawal of Swiss, there have been only a few scheduled flights at Lugano Airport in Ticino. The charter sector is also rather weak in direct comparison with other Swiss airports. The Elba flights, which will again be operated by Silver Air this year, are at least a small ray of hope. The region around Lake Maggiore has a lot to offer in terms of tourism, but Lugano-Agno Airport has been on the decline for several years. It once had a fairly dense Crossair network, but this was gradually scaled back. Darwin Airline also increasingly tried to operate outside of its home base. The bankruptcy of the carrier, which most recently operated as Adria Airways Switzerland, led to the loss of scheduled routes. The withdrawal of Swiss then also sealed the end of the hub connections. During the Corona pandemic, the company even had to file for bankruptcy. At one point there was a project to set up its own carrier, but things became extremely quiet again. But it is not completely quiet in Lugano, as the airport is used intensively by general and business aviation. This is the main customer of the Ticino airport. There have not been regular scheduled flights for some time. From June 18, 2023, the Czech Silver Air will again operate charter flights on behalf of Flights&Travel to Marina di Campo. These have been offered for many years - with a temporary interruption during the Corona pandemic. Turboprop aircraft of the Let 410 type are used. The small aircraft operate on Wednesdays and Sundays, although according to the current flight plan

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Lugano: Twinjet starts Olbia charter flights

Jan Gruber 25 May 2022 11:03

The French airline Twinjet will operate charter flights between Lugano and Olbia in summer 2022. These will start on June 25, 2022 and are to be operated once a week. Lugano has no longer had any regular scheduled connections since the collapse of Darwin Airline and the discontinuation of Swiss flights within Switzerland. Charter flights have been operated on a small scale again in the current summer season, for example to Elba, with Let 410 from Silver Air. The Olbia connection is offered and marketed by Summercharter.ch. The flights are operated operationally by the French Twinjet. The ticket price is 490 Swiss francs per one-way. The tour operator grants a small discount for return bookings. It is currently planned that the last pair of Lugano-Olbia-Lugano routes will be operated on September 10, 2022. Twinjet was founded in May 2001 and currently operates 12 Beechcraft 1900D turboprop aircraft with 19 seats. The airline mainly flies within France, but also has some international routes. For example, it flies to Friedrichshafen and Stuttgart in Germany. It also has Zurich and Milan in its portfolio. Twinjet is also a cooperation partner of the Air France-KLM frequent flyer program.

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Lugano: Silver Air flies to Elba again this year

Jan Gruber 22 April 2022 20:03

Things have been quiet at the Swiss airport in Lugano for some time now, as there have been no regular scheduled flights since the domestic connections to Zurich and Geneva were discontinued. From June 19, 2022, the Czech Silver Air plans to reactivate the seasonal Elba flights. The carrier has been operating island traffic with the Let 410 aircraft for several years. Due to the corona pandemic, the offer has been greatly reduced in the last two years. Within Italy, it serves subsidized PSO routes from Bologna, Florence, Milan-Linate and Pisa to Marina di Campo (Elba). It is currently also the only remaining provider of regular flights to/from Elba. Lugano is the only international destination served by Silver Air from the Italian island. It is currently planned to fly twice a week between June 19 and September 25, 2022. The flight tickets will be offered through the partner Flights and Travel. Elba is to be served from the Ticino airport on Wednesdays and Sundays. In the past, there were also seasonal scheduled flights to the island of Elba from Bern, Zurich, Friedrichshafen, Altenrhein and Munich, among others. These were operated by the now defunct regional airlines SkyWork and InterSky, among others. This year there will be charter flights from Bern again, which will be operated by Swiss Flight Services.

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