As from today, as had been previously announced, Air Malta will be connecting the Italian city of Reggio Calabria with Paris and from 29 March, the Maltese airline will also be connecting Reggio with Genoa.

This was announced at a press conference last Thursday by Reggio mayor Giuseppe Scopelliti.

The announcement, however, resulted in Air Malta becoming involved in a local polemic, since that very same day the governor of Calabria, Agazio Loiero, returned triumphant from Rome announcing that Reggio’s airport, the Tito Minniti (or Aereoporto dello Stretto), will have routes to Pisa, Turin, Milano Malpensa, Bologna and Venice.

Mayor Scopelliti thus held another press conference on Friday in which he criticised the province and the State for not helping Reggio Calabria. For eight whole years, he said, Reggio airport had not received any government help, while other airports in Italy, from Venice to Catania, have been modernised. Around e40 million had been earmarked for the modernisation of Reggio airport, and had arrived in the city, but no one knew what happened to it, the mayor said.

In contrast, Air Malta came in for fulsome praise. Antonio Barrile, Reggio council’s consultant, praised the Maltese airline, saying: “Air Malta will be investing e60,000 to connect Reggio to Genoa. No one, not even Alitalia-CAI, has ever invested so much in Reggio.”