Airport operator Aeroporti di Roma, airline ITA Airways and train operator Trenitalia have developed a ‘train + aeroplane’ product that combines rail and air travel in an integrated ticket.
The service is intended to simplify the travel experience for passengers. It is supported by technology provided by AccesRail, which enables passengers to purchase a combined train and airplane ticket on all ITA Airways digital channels, through authorized ITA Airways agencies, ITA Airways ticket offices and the ITA Airways Contact Centre. Passengers choosing this intermodal option can also check in for their flight at the dedicated counter at the railway station at Fiumicino’s Leonardo da Vinci International Airport.
The check-in service at the railway station at Fiumicino Airport will be active, on an experimental basis, for the duration of the 2023 summer aviation season. Passengers arriving at Fiumicino Airport by Frecciarossa or Leonardo Express and who are continuing their journey on international and intercontinental flights operated by ITA Airways (except for the USA and Israel), can check in and leave their baggage directly at Fiumicino station and then collect it at their final destination.
The intermodal travel experience is part of agreements already signed between Aeroporti di Roma and the Ferrovie dello Stato Group (FS) to develop integrated train and airplane products and facilitate connections between the country’s main stations, airports and ports, while also focusing on the development of new forms of urban air mobility. ITA Airways has also signed a memorandum of understanding with FS to create multimodal air-rail services.
Marco Troncone, CEO of Aeroporti di Roma, said, “The path to the decarbonization of the air transport sector must include strong service innovation as well as technological innovation, and can bring great benefits to passengers in our country and to the Italian transport system as a whole. This is precisely why Aeroporti di Roma, thanks to ENAC and together with ITA Airways and Trenitalia, wanted to give top priority to this new intermodal product, which is essential for multiplying the connections for domestic passengers and making integrated rail/air travel a viable alternative. In the near future, therefore, it will be essential to ensure the availability of adequate routes to make this product simple and competitive, to guarantee a fast connection, short waiting times and dedicated assistance, check-in services ever closer to the first station of departure, and infrastructure works to ensure that Leonardo da Vinci is also connected to the south of the country.”
Fabio Lazzerini, CEO and general manager of ITA Airways, said, “Intermodality is a focal point for ITA Airways, combining the company’s values and ambitions: sustainability, innovation and the centrality of the customer, with a view to concrete participation in the development of the country system. The perspective in which the company is working with the main players in the national transport sector and with institutions is aimed at achieving multimodal connectivity, thanks to integration with land vehicles, creating an overall more sustainable offer. Integrated rail-air mobility, through our airport hub, will enable more efficient connectivity to and from Italian cities with international destinations. The product we are unveiling today demonstrates ITA Airways’ ability to work with the major players in the passenger transport industry to meet the diverse needs of the community and the individual customer, providing an integrated and efficient travel experience.”
Luigi Corradi, CEO and general manager of Trenitalia, commented, “Today, we show that working as a system is decisive for the development of intermodality, a key theme in Trenitalia’s strategy and the FS Group Passenger Hub. We put ourselves in the passenger’s shoes. We thought about how we could improve the service and make it easier to buy tickets, not just when you are on the train. Intermodality is increasingly playing a leading role in our travels and allows us to accompany people on a door-to-door journey, which puts the customer at the center of a rail offer enriched by other means of transport. Working together has allowed us to develop new understandings to be implemented in a broader strategic and sustainable project, from an environmental, social and economic point of view, for the benefit of travelers and territories.”
Pierluigi Di Palma, president of ENAC, said, “For me, it is a dream come true, a dream that demonstrates the ability of our country to work as a system, an ability that we are demonstrating with concrete actions. Today, we are moving from the story we have told in the proposed National Airport Plan, which the government has welcomed, and which contains proposals and ideas for intermodal integration, to concrete facts: we are touching the future and the integral development of mobility.”
To find out more about Aeroporti di Roma’s latest developments, click here.