The Federal Office of Civil Aviation (FOCA) has renewed Lugano-Agno Airport’s operating licence until 2056, ending years of uncertainty for Ticino’s business community. The decision, announced on 18 September, green-lights planned upgrades to navigation aids and runway lighting aimed at reducing weather-related diversions on the notoriously challenging alpine approach. Although scheduled passenger services collapsed after Swiss and Darwin Airlines withdrew in the early 2020s, charter flights and private jets serving the finance and conference sectors have kept the airfield afloat. The long-term concession gives municipal owners confidence to court new regional carriers—talks are reportedly under way with Italy’s Sky Alps and France’s Twin Jet about multi-weekly routes to Rome and Zurich starting summer 2027. The licence comes with conditions: stricter noise-abatement procedures, a night-flight ban from 22:00 to 06:00 and mandatory reporting on CO₂ reduction efforts, including the installation of sustainable-aviation-fuel (SAF) storage by 2030. Local residents had raised environmental concerns, but the canton argues that a functional airport reduces car traffic through the Gotthard corridor and supports 500 direct and indirect jobs. For corporate travellers, the extension offers a medium-term alternative to Milan-Malpensa, which lies 80 kilometres away. Travel-management companies expect modest time savings for executives shuttling between Lugano’s asset-management firms and Zurich’s banking hub. However, the upcoming OSCE summit’s temporary airspace restrictions mean the new licence’s benefits will only materialise fully after December.
Source: SWI swissinfo.ch
