Taranto-Grottaglie Airport adopts updated emergency plan under ENAC Ordinance 01/2026

Italy’s Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC) published Ordinance 01/2026 for Puglia–Basilicata on 28 July 2026, approving the second edition of the Airport Emergency Plan (AEP) for Taranto-Grottaglie “Marcello Arlotta” airport. The new plan incorporates lessons from last year’s ETNA joint civil-military exercise and aligns local protocols with ICAO Annex 14 standards. Grottaglie, historically a cargo and aerospace-testing platform, is being upgraded to accommodate regular passenger charters ahead of Expo 2030 in Rome. The AEP therefore expands coordination mechanisms between the airport operator, the 16th Air Brigade (which manages co-located military facilities) and regional health authorities, detailing evacuation routes, triage areas and multilingual communication templates. For companies flying in engineers to Leonardo’s adjacent aerospace cluster or using Grottaglie for heavy-lift cargo (the Boeing 787 fuselage sections are assembled here), the ordinance means stricter permits for air-side access and mandatory inclusion in mass-casualty drills. Handlers must complete new e-learning modules on lithium-battery fires and unmanned-aircraft incursions within 90 days. From a traveller-experience angle, the plan introduces a “Passenger Care Team” able to deploy mobile shelters and psychological first-aid within 30 minutes of an incident – a service previously available only at Rome Fiumicino. ENAC has asked airlines to update contingency routing so that Bari and Brindisi airports can absorb diverted flights without breaching night-curfew slots. Mobility managers with project work in Apulia should circulate the revised contact list for emergency coordinators and ensure that staff profiles in their duty-of-care platforms include next-of-kin details in Italian as well as English, as required by the ordinance.