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18 ENAV – 2014 Financial Statements
In detail, en-route traffic consists of the following components:
l international commercial traffic, which recorded a 3.1% net increase in
service units (SU) compared to a 2.1%increase in the number of assisted
flights. The highest service units were recorded on flights to other European
countries, especially Great Britain, Belgium, Holland, Greece, Turkey, and
Israel, due to the greater average distance traveled. On the other hand,
movements between Italy and Asia grew in terms of SU, but only slightly
in terms of assisted flights. Connections to Africa decreased in number
of assisted flights (-3.0%) and in SU (-6.3%). This decrease was due to
the shorter average distance traveled (-3.1%) as well as to the sharp drop
in the number of flights to and from Egypt (-8.7%). This is not only the
principal international route in terms of flights to Africa, but is also the sixth
most important in terms of average kilometers flown in Italy. The airline
companies that achieved the greatest increases in international flights were
easyJet (+18.0% SU; +8.2% flights), British Airways (+13.0% SU; +1.5%
flights), Vueling (+58.9% SU; +43.7% flights), Germanwings (+19.7%
SU; +35.7% flights), Meridiana (+39.4% SU; +46.4% flights) and Air One
(+87.0% SU; +43.6% flights) to the detriment of Lufthansa (-10.5% SU;
-16.6% flights) and Air France (-15.2% SU; -22.6% flights).
In the international commercial traffic category, the trend in overflight
traffic increased in terms of SU (+1.3%) and in number of flights (+2.1%).
Overflight was marked by an increase in connections among European
countries (+8.3% SU) and by a decrease in connections between Europe
and Africa (-10.7% SU) due to the Libyan crisis and to the closing of that
country’s air space in late August 2014, causing a progressive decrease
in overflight SU for ENAV. This decrease reached its greatest point in
December, with a 9% drop in SU compared to December 2013. On the other
hand, there were positive data for connections between Asia and Europe
(+6.6% SU; +2.8% flights), which confirm the continuous growth in air
traffic to the Middle East, especially to Dubai, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It is
no coincidence that the companies with the greatest increases in volumes
of overflight traffic are Turkish Airlines (+22.5% SU), by far the carrier with
the highest overflight numbers, Saudia (+28.9% SU), Thomsonfly (+9.8%
SU), Qatar Airways (+31.7% SU) and the European carrier Vueling (+33.1%
SU). Traffic to or from Italy grew more than the overflight component. In
2014, SU increased 4.8% compared to a more moderate growth in flights
(2.1%). For this type of traffic as well, connections to other European
countries recorded the greatest increase for the year (+6.0% SU);
l domestic commercial traffic, which increased by 0.3% in terms of SU and
0.1% in number of assisted flights, confirming that air traffic on domestic
routes has not yet recovered, especially if one considers that 2014 follows
a two-year period (2012-2013) with a sharp drop in volumes. This result
is attributable to the economic crisis in Europe, to problems experienced
by Italy’s largest airline company, and to increased competition by high-
speed trains. With regard to the largest companies operating on domestic
routes, Ryanair showed strong growth (+24.4% SU and +26.8% flights),
due among other things to increased connections with southern Italian
airports such as Palermo, Catania and Lamezia. On the other hand, there
was a decrease in domestic traffic by companies such as Alitalia-CAI
(-2.7% SU, +4.1% flights), Meridiana (-20.1% SU; -19.1% flights), easyJet
(-0.6% SU; -5.8% flights), and especially Air One (-34.6% SU; -47.4%
flights) and Blue Panorama (-50.6% SU; -54.3% flights). In 2014, new