Recent Agreements To Boost Italy's Multimodal Travel

Travelers may now purchase a single ticket that includes both rail and air transportation on Trenitalia and ITA Airways.

 

The new service from the soon-to-be Lufthansa-owned Italian flag airline is designed to improve connections between municipalities in Italy and the rest of the world.

According to ITA Airways' CEO and general manager Fabio Lazzerini, inter-modality is a focus point for the airline, which unites the principles and aspirations of the company: environmental responsibility, innovation, and the passenger's needs, which is the main focus of the carrier.

Travellers will have the option to purchase combined flight and rail tickets on Trenitalia's high-speed 'Frecciarossa' trains or the Leonardo Express connecting Rome Termini and Fiumicino.

Moreover, this year, Trenitalia is testing out a new service called "FCO Connect," which will allow international ITA Airways passengers (except for air-planes to the US or Israel) to complete baggage formalities at the airport train terminal.

Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma, highlighted the agreement's importance saying that the hub has assigned priority relevance to the intermodal services and that future operations and technology developments, which may potentially produce tremendous benefits for travellers, will be essential to the decarbonization the of aviation industry.

“It will be fundamental to ensure the availability of suitable routes to make this product easy and competitive, guarantee a fast connection, short waiting times and dedicated assistance, provide more check-in services close to the first departure station and infrastructural works to ensure connectivity with the south of the country,” the CEO declared.

High-speed links between major Italian towns including Naples, Florence, Bologna, Padua, and Venice are also in the works, according to a joint release issued by Trenitalia.

According to Luigi Corradi, CEO and general manager of Trenitalia, building a system is vital for the growth of intermodality," which would have far-reaching positive effects on the environment, society, and the economy.

“We put ourselves in the passenger's shoes and have thought about how to make the service better and to guarantee a simple experience, not only during the train journey, but at the moment purchasing of a ticket,” Corradi commented.

Through a partnership with the intermodal technology provider Accessrail, ITA Airway is able to offer its integrated air and rail ticket to passengers using trains from Spain, Belgium, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

The ITA Airways Contact Center, as well as the company's ticket offices and authorized agents, sell the combo ticket.

The Italian government-owned railway firm, Ferrovie dello Stato, and ITA Airway have signed a contract to improve Italy's multimodal links. The MoU will "create the framework for business and operational cooperation aimed at providing a flexible and pleasant end-to-end travel experience, with the objective of incorporating shared digital platforms.

Italo, an enterprise that provides high-speed rail services, has just purchased Itabus, a startup that operates a fleet of 100 coaches and provides daytime and evening services.

Gianbattista La Rocca, CEO of Italo, said that this change provides a genuine integrated transportation solution for tourists. The rail company stated that the integration would allow them to provide combination tickets via a single multimodal platform, which will create "interesting links" between train stations, airports, and ports.

Initially focusing on Campania, Sicily, and Puglia in southern Italy, the integrated service is expected to go live this summer.

 

Source: businesstravelnewseurope.com