20 20 ITALIAN CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY AVIATION CIVIL ITALIAN and Social Balance Social and Annual Report Annual Italian Civil Aviation Authority Aviation Civil Italian ENAC Contributions 2021.qxp_INTERVENTI 09/07/21 14:39 Pagina 1 ENAC Italian Civil Aviation Authority Annual Report and Social Balance ITALIAN CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY 2020 Contributions 2021.qxp_INTERVENTI 09/07/21 14:39 Pagina 2 CONTRIBUTIONS Enrico Giovannini MINISTER OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURES AND MOBILITY Pierluigi Di Palma PRESIDENT ITALIAN CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY Alessio Quaranta DIRECTOR GENERAL ITALIAN CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY Gabriella Palmieri Sandulli ADVOCATE GENERAL OF THE ITALIAN STATE Contributions 2021.qxp_INTERVENTI 09/07/21 14:39 Pagina 3 Enrico Giovannini MINISTER OF SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURES AND MOBILITY C O he ENAC 2020 Annual Report and Social Balance clearly shows how the aviation sector suffers from N T the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. However, not only provides an overall view of the trend in R I B the sector and the measures taken to deal with the period of serious difficulties, but also, and I would U T T I say above all, it identifies the prospects for its recovery. O N This crisis has taught us how it is necessary to predict the factors of vulnerability of a sector that is fundamental S for the development of the Country, for the mobility of people and the transport of goods, but also how important it is to prepare to react to shocks in a timely and coordinated manner, also at international level, by adapting the sector to the different risk factors. The pandemic crisis has made it clear how crucial the versatility 3 of public transport infrastructure is and, in the event of emergencies such as the one we have experienced ENAC and are still experiencing, they must be able to adapt quickly and react positively. This research for greater resilience applies, in particular, to air transport infrastructures for which a major change is expected. But it also ANNUAL REPORT AND SOCIAL BALANCE SOCIAL AND REPORT ANNUAL applies to airport facilities and the aviation industry, which must push technological innovation into a sustainable development dimension. The recovery of the sector after the pandemic crisis and its future development must therefore take advantage of the experience by adopting a more systemic vision, the only one that will allow us to pursue the objectives of a fair transition and to progress towards decarbonisation, ensuring better safety and security systems, rapid digitisation of traffic procedures and controls and increased attention to environmental impacts. It is more than ever necessary to continue to reflect, as part of the new national strategy for air transport and in the review of the National Plan of Airports, on the significance of the sector development in an ecological way. The transition to less impactful systems must be perceived as an opportunity for aviation, called to invest more and more in the research for clean fuels, while Italian airports are already committed to the objective of "zero emissions" also through the digitisation of services. A revitalisation of the sector which takes account of economic, social and environmental aspects at the same time, must be carried out quickly, since the "time factor" is crucial for competitiveness. Sustainable transformations will have to result in a more rational use of energy and primary resources as well as alternative 2 resources; in a better waste management; in an investment in sustainable aviation Fuels (SAF), on green airport 0 2 mobility, as well as on consumption detection and monitoring. 0 A future of great innovations awaits the aviation sector. At the industrial manufacturing level, it is already assumed the inclusion of a business line for the conversion of aeronautical propulsion into electric traction, with a gradual path that may stimulate the energy transition in some areas of the local private and public sector, such as air taxis at the urban and suburban level or between cities, and then still evolve into more complex transport systems. Technological innovation and the dissemination of related digital tools, robotics and artificial intelligence will also have an increasing impact on the mobility sector, and that is why it is essential that the Contributions 2021.qxp_INTERVENTI 09/07/21 14:39 Pagina 4 aviation sector is integrated into a coherent and harmonised transport network, in an intermodal perspective. The National Recovery and Resilience Plan, the Complementary Fund and the National Funds are also involved in this. Of course, this approach to intermodality must be based on the acquisition and management of data in a fully digitised system. In this context, the relevant infrastructures will also have to be adapted and integrated. From the point of view of the users, the pandemic has redefined the profile of the airport passenger as "healthy- concerned passenger", with the consequent adaptation of the operations and of the customer service. The 0 2 new definition therefore requires the offer of an end-to-end travel not only easy, but also in full safety from the 0 2 health point of view. And, in this context, fits the "seamless passengers experience" ENAC programme aimed at facilitating the interconnection between various digital systems and technologies to offer passengers a smooth, fast and autonomous path, able to raise the quality of service and minimise waiting times (through, for example, biometric recognition, smart security, contactless systems). Coordinated planning at European level is therefore also needed to manage the documentation required of passengers, also to speed up control operations, prevent counterfeiting and avoid duplication of checks carried out by single Member States, waiting for an increasing use of the Digital Green Pass. In the current context of crisis, the testing of intelligent mobility models, both via air and land, allows to develop innovative and sustainable solutions from which new skills and business opportunities can arise. An opportunity to give impetus to the Country and allow it to play a leading role at the international level. It is a question of revising the system in its complexity, involving public and private actors, giving them an active role in economic development and in the challenges posed by ecological, digital, demographic and social transitions. ANNUAL REPORT AND SOCIAL BALANCE SOCIAL AND REPORT ANNUAL ENAC 4 S N O I T U B I R T N O C Contributions 2021.qxp_INTERVENTI 09/07/21 14:39 Pagina 5 Pierluigi Di Palma PRESIDENT ITALIAN CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY C O N From air transport to the aerospace sector T R I B U he crisis caused by the health emergency, which exceeded the threshold of normal business risk, has T I O hit all air transport operators with violence. The risk is that the entire sector will lose competitiveness N Tcompared to other Countries, with very serious effects, in particular on the recovery of tourism, essential S for our economy. In this context, the national airport system must be adequately supervised, protected and developed, also in 5 order to safeguard the workers in the sector who, also because of the professionalism gained, are the main assets of companies as well as the essential guarantee of safety and security of the air transport. ENAC That being said, for a number of years there has been an increasing need for an institutional reorganisation of air transport, in a dual strategic vision. There are too many interlocutors and too many fragmented their BALANCE SOCIAL AND REPORT ANNUAL competences, so that operators in the sector are faced with an undoubted difficulty of relations, with a brake on the decision-making processes detrimental to the economic development of the sector which, because of the continuous technological innovation, it needs a unique system. In fact, sixty years after the flight of Yuri Gagarin into space, with which, in the middle of the "Cold War", the Soviet Union wanted to assert its military supremacy over the United States, today we are witnessing a new "space race", free from the domination of the two superpowers and connected, in the global market, to the industrial potential of the aerospace sector where dual technologies, characterised by a common military and civil interest, play a primary role. The strong competitiveness in the sector pushes our Country to be recognised, also thanks to the synergic action developed with the Italian Space Agency, in a systemic vision, a leading role in the European aerospace policy, expanding international collaborations aimed at ensuring the participation of our companies in satellite programmes in the fields of defence, transport, security and protection of the territory. In this context, where military, civil and commercial interests are in a phase of convergence, the financing of dual programmes, also through a reorganisation of the procurement regarding the supplying companies, 2 0 represents the ideal situation to address public expenditure constraints and meet, adequately, the needs of 2 our Country in the sector. 0 Furthermore, the impact of the use of the satellite component in the air traffic control activity by ENAV is clear and, in connection with an infrastructure adjustment to be promoted, under the supervision of ENAC, with the liberalisation of airport charges, it can overcome the problems of saturation of major airports and cope with the expected doubling of air traffic over the next twenty years, despite the sharp decline in traffic caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Contributions 2021.qxp_INTERVENTI 09/07/21 14:39 Pagina 6 Thus, in order to ensure the safe, regular and environmentally sustainable operation of air transport, in particular by optimising its operational capacity, the identification of the Italian aerospace sector is essential, encouraging cooperation and synergy between public and private players, who are, in different capacities, involved in the competition at European level, with the promotion of greater and better institutional collaboration and with the direct involvement of the national industry of reference.