Italy's airport tax and Ryanair: where regions pay to lift it, traffic grew, and nobody has measured the link

The surcharge is a national levy, and regions buy it out

The charge began at €1 per boarded passenger under the 2004 budget law, L. 350/2003, according to the Chamber of Deputies' research dossier on the airport system, last updated on 24 March 2026. Later laws raised it to €3, added 50 cents from 2007 for the State's fire service costs, and added €2 from 1 July 2013 for INPS. The dossier lists these steps without a single consolidated rate. It states that the charge creates no tax obligation in law and that passengers transiting through Italian airports from domestic flights do not pay it.

Assaeroporti, the association of airport operators, breaks down the present charge in a position paper dated December 2025. INPS receives €5, of which €1.50 goes to the air transport fund and €3.50 to pensions. The State budget receives €1, the Treasury €0.50 for fire services, and airport municipalities between €0.50 and €2.50 where an extra municipal tier applies. The result, in Assaeroporti's count, is seven different rates between €6.50 and €9 per departing passenger. Assaeroporti represents the operators and campaigns to phase the charge out, so its breakdown is an advocacy document. It is still the only per-component table found for this report. Il Post reported in February 2024 that airlines pay the charge per ticket and pass it on to passengers.

A newer layer sits on top. The 2025 budget law, L. 207/2024, added 50 cents from 1 April 2025 on flights to non-EU destinations departing from airports that handled more than 10 million passengers in the previous year, according to the Chamber dossier. The money goes to the municipality that hosts the airport, for roads and urban works. Assaeroporti wrote in December 2025 that the decree naming the beneficiaries had not yet been issued and that operators were holding the money. A ministry decree of 16 October 2025 appeared in search results and was not opened, so the status of that payment after December 2025 is unverified.

The legal mechanics shape everything that follows. The surcharge is set by national law, so only national law can lift it. The Chamber dossier describes each regional case as a national provision. For Friuli Venezia Giulia it says the 2024 budget law "abolito" the charge across the region. For Calabria it speaks of "disapplicazione", for Abruzzo of the charge that "non si applichi", for Sicily of non-application from 2026, and for Rimini, Forlì and Parma of an "esenzione". In Abruzzo and Emilia-Romagna the Region pays a fixed sum into the State budget each year, and Sicily's Region has allocated its own funds. The State's revenue is kept whole in those cases, and the regional taxpayer funds the cut. For Friuli Venezia Giulia and Calabria no payment arrangement was found.

Six regional deals with different scope, cost and duration

Friuli Venezia Giulia was first. The 2024 budget law, L. 213/2023, removed the charge across the region, in practice at Trieste, its only commercial airport. Il Post reported on 26 February 2024 that it applied from 1 January 2024 and noted that the region's special autonomous status made the move possible. Il Post also reported that Ryanair opened a base at Trieste about three weeks later. Ryanair's own release of 18 March 2026 dates the change to April 2024. The cost to the Region was not found.

Calabria followed in August 2024. Article 15, paragraph 3-bis of decree-law 60/2024 disapplies the charge at Lamezia Terme, Reggio Calabria and Crotone, according to the Chamber dossier and Assaeroporti. Assaeroporti dates it from 1 August 2024, and Ryanair credits the region's president, Roberto Occhiuto, with the decision. The Calabrian Region's own acts and the annual cost were not found.

Abruzzo's measure has an end date. The 2025 budget law provides that the charge does not apply in Abruzzo in 2025, 2026 and 2027 (paragraph 737 of article 1, as cited by the Chamber dossier). A resolution of the Abruzzo regional government, DGR 318 of 29 May 2025, records a budget line for "Restituzione allo Stato addizionale comunale" of €4,763,000 a year for the three years. The resolution concerns the industrial plan of SAGA, Pescara's airport operator, and does not itself set the charge. After 2027 the charge returns unless a new law extends the exemption.

Sicily's measure covers only its smaller airports. Article 19-ter of decree-law 95/2025, added by a Senate amendment, switches off the charge from 1 January 2026 at Sicilian airports that handled fewer than 5 million passengers in 2024, according to the Chamber dossier. That covers Trapani, Comiso, Lampedusa and Pantelleria. Palermo and Catania still charge it. The Region said on 31 July 2025 that the measure would be funded entirely from regional funds, and its economy assessor, Alessandro Dagnino, said an allocation of €6.6 million covered it. The release does not say over what period. The Palermo news site Balarm later reported the sum as €6.6 million a year. Ryanair's release of 21 October 2026 asks the Region to extend the exemption to Palermo and Catania.

Emilia-Romagna's version names three airports. The 2026 budget law, L. 199/2025, exempts Rimini, Forlì and Parma from 1 January 2026 under paragraph 481 of article 1. Paragraph 482, as reproduced by the legal information site Leggeinchiaro, requires the Region to pay the State €1,912,300 a year from 2026, by 30 April each year. Bologna, the region's main airport, still charges the full surcharge. A regional bill published on 4 March 2026 would also support airports with up to 700,000 passengers a year, with up to €4 million a year in 2026–2028, "nel rispetto della disciplina europea sugli aiuti di Stato". The final regional law number was not found.

Sardinia chose a seasonal suspension. ANSA reported on 10 August 2026 that the Regional Council had approved, "in chiave sperimentale", a measure lifting the charge at Cagliari, Olbia and Alghero from November to March, with Alghero also covered in April and May 2027 and 2028. Il Sole 24 Ore dated the winters November 2026 to March 2027 and November 2027 to March 2028. Both outlets give a cost of €18.2 million: €3.3 million in 2026, €9.1 million in 2027 and €5.8 million in 2028. ANSA adds about €500,000 a year for the host municipalities. Il Sole's report of 13 August left the approval status unclear. The regional act was not opened, and this report did not establish whether a national provision is also needed.

The newly exempt airports grew fastest, and the timing is uneven

Assaeroporti publishes passengers for 41 airports each month. A passenger in this series is one arrival or one departure, including direct transit and general aviation, so a round trip counts twice. The series does not separate airlines, routes or visitors from residents. Read with that limit, it shows how each affected airport moved before and after its change.

The airports whose change took effect in January 2026 show the sharpest jump. Trapani fell 6.3% in 2025 and then grew 32.7% in January–September 2026, to 1,082,337 passengers. Comiso had lost 48.4% of its traffic in 2025 and nearly quadrupled in 2026 (+286.1%), from a small base. Comiso alone supplied about a third of the six airports' combined gain of about 745,000 passengers, on our arithmetic. Lampedusa grew 22.0% and Rimini 48.4%. Parma grew 5.4%. Forlì fell 15.6%, to 75,173 passengers, with the surcharge lifted for the whole period. Together the six grew about 41.6%, or about 29.5% without Comiso, on our arithmetic from Assaeroporti's rounded percentages.

Trapani and Comiso also received flights diverted from Catania during the Etna closures in August and September 2026, which no source separates from their own growth. Both were already growing fast before the closures. On figures compiled for our report on Catania airport and Mount Etna, Comiso was up about 271% and Trapani about 29% in January–July 2026.

The earlier cases show growth concentrated in the first full year. Trieste grew 41.5% in 2024, its first year without the charge, then 25.1% in 2025 and 5.9% in January–September 2026. Pescara fell 2.9% in 2024 and grew 31.5% in 2025, its first year without the charge, and kept growing in 2026. Reggio Calabria more than doubled in 2024 (+112.8%) and grew 56.7% in 2025. Its 2026 growth slowed to 1.2%. The annual tables cannot show how much of Reggio's 2024 jump came after the August change. Lamezia fell 4.4% in 2024 and then grew 12.4% and 16.8%. Crotone grew 19.8%, 24.5% and then 5.5%. These five airports were exempt in both January–September 2025 and 2026, so their 2026 change is not a before-and-after comparison. Together they grew about 14.1%, on our arithmetic.

Airports with the surcharge still in force also grew strongly. Turin, where no exemption law was found, grew 18.0% over the same nine months, more than Lamezia. Bari, the main airport in our Puglia travel guide, grew 11.8%, Brindisi 10.2%, Venice 9.9%, Verona 8.7% and Naples 7.9%. Those six airports grew about 10.4% together, on our arithmetic. Alghero and Olbia, which still charged the surcharge through September, grew 11.5% and 11.0%. Palermo, which keeps the charge while Trapani lost it, grew 15.1%. Catania fell 3.3%, largely because of the Etna closures.

The newly exempt airports' lead over the comparison group is large and it is consistent with Ryanair's argument. It is also consistent with other explanations that the published series cannot rule out. Several of the January 2026 airports were recovering from steep falls in 2025, which inflates their percentages. Two of them took diverted Etna traffic. Ryanair opened bases and moved aircraft to these airports as it said it would, so part of the growth reflects one airline's capacity decisions, in a proportion no published data shows. Whether those passengers are new to Italy or moved from neighbouring airports is unknown. Trieste sits near Venice, Treviso and Ljubljana, Pescara between Rome and Ancona, Trapani near Palermo. None of the operators or public bodies publishes route-level seats, fares or passenger origins for these airports. A study that compared similar airports with and without the charge, and controlled for capacity moves, base effects, Etna diversions and traffic drawn from neighbouring airports, would be needed to measure the effect. None was found.

The results also differ within single regions. In Emilia-Romagna, Rimini grew 48.4% and Forlì fell 15.6% in the same year, under the same exemption. Ryanair announced nine new routes across Forlì, Parma and Rimini for summer 2026. Bologna, which still charges the surcharge, grew 3.2%. In Calabria, Lamezia added roughly 401,000 passengers in January–September 2026 while Reggio Calabria added about 9,000, on our arithmetic. A tax change that applies equally across a region cannot by itself explain why one airport surges and another stalls. Airline route and aircraft decisions are the obvious candidate, but no airline share or seat data is published to show it.

Ryanair's figures have no baseline, and its Sardinian cuts came amid wider winter reductions

Ryanair has campaigned against the surcharge in its Italian releases since at least January 2025. Its release of 28 May 2026 lists results by region. Abruzzo shows "+80% di traffico, 1 nuovo aeromobile e 8 nuove rotte". Calabria shows "+100% di capacità", a new base at Reggio, three aircraft and 31 routes. Friuli Venezia Giulia shows "+140% di traffico" and Emilia-Romagna "+50% di traffico". Sicily shows "+1 milione di passeggeri all'anno" and a new base at Trapani. None of these figures states a base year, a period or whether it measures Ryanair's own passengers or the airport's. Calabria's figure measures capacity, which is seats offered.

The airport series gives different magnitudes. Trieste handled about 932,700 passengers in 2023, implied by Assaeroporti's 2024 figure and change, and 1,651,703 in 2025, an increase of about 77% on our arithmetic. Ryanair's 140% may refer to its own traffic over a different period, and the release does not say. Pescara grew 31.5% in 2025. Ryanair's release of 28 November 2025 said its Abruzzo programme would carry more than 1.3 million passengers a year, 80% more than in 2024. That figure is a forward annual rate for one airline's schedule and does not compare with Assaeroporti's calendar-year airport count of 1,114,691.

The claim of "double-digit traffic growth" in all five regions, made in Ryanair releases of 13 August and 21 October 2026, holds for some airports in some years. In January–September 2026, Reggio Calabria grew 1.2%, Parma 5.4%, Crotone 5.5% and Trieste 5.9%, and Forlì fell 15.6%.

The national offer has been repeated with the same figures for a year. Ryanair says that if Italy abolished the surcharge at every airport it would add 40 aircraft, about 20 million passengers a year, 250 routes and 15,000 jobs. The figures appear in its releases of 2 October 2025, 25 February 2026 and 1 October 2026. Ryanair has published no model behind them. A spokesperson quoted by Quotidiano.net in June 2025 gave the job figure as "more than 1,500 direct jobs", a different measure. The airline's rate figures refer to different airports. A January 2025 statement reported by Qualitytravel gave an average of €6.50 and "fino a 8 euro" at major airports. The release of 1 October 2026 said the charge "can reach up to €7 per passenger" at Bergamo and Malpensa. Il Post reported about €9 at Venice in 2024. No official table of rates by airport was found.

Sardinia is where the argument turned into cuts. On 21 October 2026 Ryanair announced winter reductions of 15% at Alghero and 50% at Olbia, including the loss of one route. The release welcomed the Region's winter suspension but said it "was announced too late to influence Winter '26" and "falls well short of the permanent, year-round abolition required". It also criticised the Region for spending "almost €50m per year of public money" on public-service air routes. The Sardinian president, Alessandra Todde, had said in May that "una Regione non si fa ricattare dai vettori", according to L'Espresso. Ryanair's February 2026 release for Sardinia offered 2 million more passengers a year and four more aircraft if the Region abolished the charge year-round.

The Sardinian cuts are not the only reductions in Ryanair's winter schedule. Trade press reported in September and October 2026 that Ryanair was cutting up to 2 million seats in Germany, Spain, Portugal and Greece, mainly citing fuel costs, alongside disputes over taxes and charges in some countries, and that some Italian routes were lost with the closure of its Berlin base. The release on Alghero and Olbia does not mention fuel. It is not possible to say from published sources how much of the Sardinian reduction reflects the surcharge and how much reflects fleet allocation across Europe.

Who pays, and the questions nobody has answered

The two fixed annual payments can be set against traffic. Abruzzo's €4,763,000 a year equals about €4.27 for every passenger counted at Pescara in 2025, on our arithmetic. Emilia-Romagna's €1,912,300 equals about €2.82 for every passenger at Rimini, Forlì and Parma in 2025. These ratios use all arriving and departing passengers, while the surcharge applies only to departures, so they understate the sum per departing passenger. Neither law explains how its figure was calculated. Sicily's €6.6 million is left out of the comparison because its period is not stated in the Region's release. The costs for Friuli Venezia Giulia and Calabria were not found. Sardinia's €18.2 million over three years for a winter-only suspension is the largest fixed-term total disclosed.

The payments go to the State or come from regional funds, and the benefit goes to every airline and passenger at the exempt airports. Whether that structure raises a question under EU state aid rules is an open point. Abruzzo's resolution states that the operation involves no use of public resources, in the context of its airport operator's plan. Emilia-Romagna's bill says its support for small airports respects European state aid rules. No decision or complaint before the European Commission was found for this report, and the point was not researched further.

Three questions have no published answer. The first is the size of the traffic effect. The Chamber dossier, updated in March 2026, gives no estimate, and neither does Assaeroporti's December 2025 paper, which argues that a lower charge "non implicherebbe necessariamente una perdita di gettito per lo Stato" without figures. Searches of ENAC, the transport regulator ART, the Bank of Italy, the competition authority AGCM, the Corte dei conti and the research firm Nomisma found nothing quantified. The second is diversion. No source measures how many passengers at Trieste, Pescara or Trapani would otherwise have flown from a neighbouring airport. The third is fares. No public series shows whether the €6.50 or more was passed on to ticket prices at the exempt airports or kept by airlines.

This gap has a pattern. Across this series, Italian rules, costs and totals are published while their effects are not measured, from the Etna closures at Catania to the Lufthansa takeover of ITA Airways. The surcharge follows the same pattern. Laws name the airports, three regions publish what they pay or allocate, and Assaeroporti publishes monthly traffic. The evaluation that would justify spending regional money on the exemption, or refusing to, does not exist in public.

Figures that do not survive a check

The most repeated claim is that regions "abolished" or "scrapped" the tax year-round. National laws lifted it, across a whole region in three cases and at selected airports in two, and in Abruzzo only until 2027. Headlines repeat the wording for the seasonal case too. ANSA's report of 10 August 2026 said Sardinia "abolisce" the charge, for a suspension that covers the winter months only. Ryanair's growth figures, meanwhile, are presented without the base year that would let anyone check them against the airport series.

What this means for travelers, businesses and analysts

Travelers flying low-cost into Trieste, Pescara, the Calabrian airports, Trapani, Comiso, Lampedusa, Rimini, Forlì or Parma no longer pay the municipal surcharge on departure, under the national laws listed above. Sardinia's three main airports are due to drop it from November 2026 to March 2027 under the Regional Council's measure, so check the fare breakdown. Whether the saving shows up in fares is not measured. Several of these airports have more routes than two years ago, chiefly from Ryanair, and Alghero and Olbia have fewer winter flights. Visitors to western Sicily now have more options through Trapani as well as Palermo; see the Sicily travel guide. Travelers to Sardinia this winter should check schedules for Olbia and Alghero before booking; the Sardinia travel guide covers the island's airports.

Tourism businesses and investors should read the growth at these airports as growth that coincided with a tax change and with airline capacity moves, with the size of the tax's own effect unknown. The pattern is fragile. Forlì fell while Rimini surged under the same exemption, Reggio Calabria's growth stopped in 2026, and Abruzzo's exemption expires after 2027. An investor underwriting a regional airport on Ryanair's growth figures would be relying on numbers without a stated baseline. The thresholds that would change the assessment are a renewal of the Abruzzo exemption, any national decision on the charge, and Assaeroporti's monthly data for Sardinia from November 2026.

Journalists and analysts can cite the laws and payments in the box above, and Assaeroporti's airport figures with their series named. Do not write that regions abolished the tax; national laws lifted it, and where the cost is published the Region pays. Do not treat Ryanair's 20 million passengers, or its +80% and +140% regional figures, as measured results, since none has a published model or baseline. Do not attribute the Sardinian winter cuts solely to the surcharge while Ryanair is also cutting seats elsewhere in Europe, mainly citing fuel costs. Do not compare growth at surcharge-free airports without separating those exempt only since January 2026 and noting Comiso's rebound and the Etna diversions. The series finding holds here too. The rules and the money are documented, and their effect has not been measured.