31 March 2023

The beginnings of the extraordinary development of Milan Bergamo airport

2003-2005. The story of the airport told through Avion Tourism Magazine

In 2002, Milan Bergamo airport obtained a forty-year concession from ENAC and decided to bet on the emerging "low-cost" strategy, which focused on a pricing policy based on the quality of essential services (safety and punctuality), leaving aside anything considered superfluous in order to offer flights at competitive prices.

Ryanair, on February 14th, 2002 (Valentine's Day), launched operations at Bergamo airport by organizing a flight from Frankfurt (Hahn) with 80 young German couples on board. During the flight, the mayor of Andernach, Paul Werner Kohns, married Anya Schmitz and Thomas Pluta who landed in Bergamo as newlyweds and celebrated first in the city and then in Milan, returning home the same day. Two months later, the flight between Bergamo and London was activated, which attracted numerous passengers and convinced Ryanair to focus on Milan Bergamo, making it the reference airport in northern Italy.

Aeroporto di Milano Bergamo

In the same year, the airport management company was studying an innovative information service to offer as a welcome to the increasingly numerous passengers. On January 31, 2003, the historic editor-in-chief Eugenio Sorrentino (responsible for the airport's press office) closed the first issue of Avion Tourism Magazine dedicated to Milan Bergamo Airport, in a glossy paper edition published bimonthly.

On February 6th, 2003, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary inaugurated the BGY base, which became the airline's hub for Southern Europe, while simultaneously launching flights to Barcelona (Girona), Brussels (Charleroi), Hamburg (Lubeck), Paris (Beauvais), London (Luton), in addition to those already operated to Frankfurt (Hahn) and London (Stansted).

The success of Ryanair led many low-cost airlines to focus on the Bergamo airport, activating new national and international destinations starting from 2003.

Air Atlas	AIR BERLIN*	air dolomiti	alisea*	azzurra air*	Basiqair*	BMIBABY*	Carpatair	flybe*
Casablanca	Berlin	Munich	Pescara	Rome (FCO)	Amsterdam	Cardif	Timisoara	Birmingham
	Dortmund					East Midlands		Southampton
	Dusseldorf

gandalf*	hapaglloyd	jet2	Luxair	Meridiana*	skyeurope*	sterling*	tacv	volare WEb*
Paris Orly	Cologne	Leeds Bradford	Athens	Cagliari	Bratislava	Copenhagen	Cabo Verde	Bari
Barcelona	Hannover		Luxembourg	Olbia	Budapest	Oslo		Cagliari
Stuttgart					Krakow	Stockholm		Catania
					Warsaw			Rome (FCO)
								Palermo

In 2003, the airport recorded its first-ever record year of traffic activity, with a total of 2 million and 844 thousand passengers, representing a 127% increase from the previous year.

In 2004, the Airport Development Plan was approved by ministerial decree, which included new business strategies and a series of internal and external adjustments to the terminal to accommodate the progressive and constant increase in passengers while maintaining high standards of quality and efficiency.

In May of the same year, Wizz Air arrived in Bergamo, initially starting with connections to Katowice and Budapest, and gradually expanding its network to Eastern Europe, becoming the second operator by the number of routes served after Ryanair in the following years. During the same period, Neos made its debut, connecting Bergamo with Ibiza.

On November 16, 2004, the three billionth passenger passed through the airport, and the year ended with an additional increase of half a million units compared to 2003.

In 2005, Alitalia* activated two daily flights to Rome Fiumicino, and Ryanair added new routes to its existing ones (Hamburg/Lubeck, Bratislava, Glasgow, Liverpool, Newcastle, Shannon, Oslo Torp, Eindhoven, Zaragoza, Seville, Valencia, Stockholm Skavsta). Some airlines abandoned the airport, leaving room for new carriers with new connections.

aerlingus	Albatros	air slovakya*	binter canarias	Blue air*	elbafly*	Estonian*	Smartwings	virgin Express*	windjet*
Dublin	Tirana	Amritsar	Gran Canaria	Bucarest	Isola d'Elba	Tallinn	Prague	Bruxelles	Bucarest
		Bratislava					Rome Ciampino

The Italian airline Myair.com* established one of its two bases in Milan Bergamo, activating connections to Bari, Brindisi, Bucharest, Cagliari, Catania, Ibiza, Lampedusa, Madrid, Naples, Olbia, and Palermo.

The airport became one of the European stopovers with the most convenient flights, based on the average fares offered by low-cost airlines, and according to the Low Cost Flight Observatory, seven out of the twenty cheapest routes in Europe departed from Milan Bergamo.

In the ranking of Italian airports by number of passengers, in 2005 Milan Bergamo rose to fifth place, after the airports of Fiumicino, Malpensa, Linate, and Venice, with an increase in passengers of 25% compared to the previous year, bringing the number of travelers to over four million.

This significant and steady growth was achieved thanks to the operational structure of the airport, which has always worked to ensure the highest level of efficiency and assistance to passengers and carriers.

* The following airlines have ceased operations: Air Berlin (2017), Air Slovakya (2010), Alisea (2003), Alitalia (which transferred its brand to Ita Airways in 2021), Azzurra Air (2004), Basiq Air integrated into Transavia in 2004), Blue Air (2022), Bmibaby (2012), Flybe (2020), Elbafly (2010), Estonian Air (2015), Gandalf (2004), Meridiana (2018), Myair (2009), Skyeurope (2009), Sterling (2008), Volareweb (integrated into Alitalia in 2015), Virgin Express (integrated into Brussels Airlines in 2006), Windjet (2012).

THE EDITORIAL CHOICES OF THE FIRST THREE YEARS

At the heart of the editorial project was the need to entertain the passenger while waiting for the flight at the airport, and at the same time provide them with informative and service-oriented readings during the flight. A series of fixed columns were conceived, such as "Milano Bergamo News" and "News from the Carriers," to provide passengers with information on the services offered at the airport, to which were added columns called "Tourism," "Destinations," "Fabulous destinations" that talked about locations directly and indirectly connected to BGY. The information was completed with a focus on "Bergamo and more," news on the main events in the area, and various lifestyle columns.

At the graphic level, the AVION logo was designed, which featured the letter O transformed into an airplane window from which the profile of Bergamo Alta could be seen, and a bilingual layout (Italian and English) on two parallel columns in 21x28 cm format, printed on matte coated paper with a laminated cover and a glossy screen print of the logo.

The magazine was registered at the Bergamo Tribunal with the N1/2003 on January 19, 2003, by Ferrari Grafiche Spa (at that time the publisher of the Orobie magazine specialized in photographic books), which also handled the printing of paper copies that were distributed free of charge in dedicated exhibitors located in various points of the airport.

The editorial team, led by Eugenio Sorrentino, included a fixed editor and various external collaborators, while Annalisa Trivigno, Marketing and Communication Director of the publishing house, was entrusted with the commercial and promotional management of the magazine. The bimonthly frequency was chosen, and six issues were published per year.

The editorials of the 12 issues of the magazine published from 2003 to 2004 were all signed by the historical President Ilario Testa, as a special welcome from the Management Company to the passengers who passed through the airport and enjoyed reading the magazine while waiting for their flight.

THE COVERS AND DESTINATIONS OF YESTERDAY AND TODAY

2003

The destinations proposed by the editorial staff 20 years ago, to the airport passengers, in the first six published issues were:

INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONS	fabulous destinations	Bergamo and more
Athens	Australia island continent	Borgo Canale culla del Donizetti
Amsterdam	Dubai	Camerata Cornello
Barcelona	Ecotourism in Jordan	The Walls of Bergamo
Cabo Verde	Madagascar	Snow planet in the Bergamo valleys
Berlin	Mexico Indian heart	Sotto il Monte
Formentera	Polynesia	The paths of Orobie
Paris	Santo Domingo
Sharm el Sheik	Sud Africa

Dubai, considered a "Mythical Destination" 20 years ago, is now directly accessible with the new Flydubai flights from Milan Bergamo with five weekly operational connections that will become daily starting from April 18th, 2023, for an unforgettable vacation featuring sea, adventure, and shopping.

Even Jordan, not directly connected at the time, can now be reached thanks to Ryanair with 3 weekly flights to Amman scheduled for the 2023 summer season.

Amsterdam is now connected with 3 weekly flights by easyjet, while daily flights by Ryanair allow you to reach historic destinations such as Athens, Barcelona, Berlin (Brandenburg) and Paris (Beauvais).

The historic Neos company continues to fly with 2 weekly flights to Sharm el Sheik, the renowned Egyptian seaside resort on the Red Sea, as well as flights to Marsa Alam.

2004

In the 2004 summer season, 15 airlines were operating, serving 31 destinations in 17 countries and the following destinations were chosen and promoted in the issues of the magazine:

INTERNATIONAL DESTINATIONS	fabulous destinations	Bergamo and more
Bruxelles	Canada	Bergamo città dei mille
Budapest	Mauritius	Crespi d'Adda
Copenhagen	Morocco imperial ardor	Cruising on Lake Iseo
The Camino de Santiago	Tunisia between desert oasis and sea	The presolana
Malta	Tourism in Argentina	The Orobic Pre-Alps
Munich	Punjab between culture and sacredness	Lovere
Scotland magical land	Journey to the Pacific
Stockholm	Zanzibar
Tenerife

Today there are 143 destinations that can be reached from Milan Bergamo airport, connected by 21 airlines that reach 39 countries.

Morocco is connected from Bergamo to Casablanca thanks to the four weekly flights of Air Arabia Maroc.

Since last December, Air Arabia UAE has also activated 4 direct flights to Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

The distant Indian region of Punjab can still be reached as 20 years ago by flying with Spicejet to the city of Amritsar.

The Mauritius Islands, but also the Maldives and the most beautiful Asian destinations can today be easily reached starting from Bergamo with a continuous flight to the Dubai Hub flying with flydubai and continuing with the same company or with Emirates Airlines.

Ryanair connects the cities of Brussels (CRL), Copenhagen and Stockholm (ARN) with daily flights.
Again with Ryanair flights, the island of Malta is reachable thanks to 4 weekly frequencies, while to Tenerife you can fly every day of the week except Sundays and Mondays.

The northern routes of the Camino de Santiago declared World Heritage by Unesco can be reached thanks to the new Volotea connection to Asturias.
The new Bergamo - Oviedo flight departing every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday will allow you to get to know not only the city of Oviedo but also the natural paradise of Asturias that surrounds it.

Santiago de Compostela can also be reached directly thanks to Ryanair's 4 weekly flights.

2005

In just 3 years, the destinations reachable from Milan Bergamo airport increased from 36 to 51 and the number of passengers exceeded 4 million in 2005, surpassing 1.2 million in 2002. This incredible success led to a revision of editorial content, giving not only more space to directly connected destinations, but also to the Bergamo area, to provide useful information to the many arriving passengers to discover Bergamo and its surroundings.

NATIONAL DESTINATIONS	fabulous destinations	Bergamo and more
Brindisi	Bratislava	Brescia
Naples	Budapest	Clusone
	Krakow	Romanesque magic
	Dusseldorf	Accademia Carrara
	Katowice	The Valley of the Cold
	Madrid	The squares of the upper city
	Prague	San Pellegrino
	Vienna	Historic Homes Tour
	Valencia	Winter holidays in the Bergamo valleys
	Zaragoza	Val Calepio

All the destinations published in 2005 are still reachable today thanks to Ryanair flights operating from BGY. To find out the seasonal flight schedule and frequency, it is very useful to consult the dedicated page on the airport's website.

In addition to being the 20th anniversary year of Avion Tourism Magazine, 2023 is also an extremely important year for the city of Bergamo, which together with Brescia is the Italian Capital of Culture 2023, and of which the airport is one of the main supporters and sponsors.

And the story continues...

Edited by Alisè Vitri

Avion Tourism Magazine

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