August 6th, 2008

The delegation was led by Dr Ivan Maravigna, Chief Executive and Dr Aldo Campo, Consultant. The meetings were coordinated by SOACO Malta consultant, Mario Spiteri from www.gosicilyproperties.com.

The Comiso airport is situated within the province of Ragusa, around 15 kilometers from the city of Ragusa and 50 kilometers from the port of Pozzallo.

The airport was built by Mussolini between 1937 and 1939 as the Aeroporto Vincenzo Magliocco, a general from Palermo who died during the Ethiopian war in 1936. During the Second World War, the airport was bombarded and practically destroyed by the Allies on 16 June 1943, slightly before the Allies’ landing in Sicily, known as Operation Husky. The airport was rebuilt after the war and served as a military base until 1973. On 19 August 1981, the Spadolini Government approved that the airport be turned into a NATO missile base. Between 1983 and 1988, heavy investment in the area took place involving the construction of the various buildings and infrastructure, most of which still exist today, intended to house nuclear warheads. With effect from 30 June 1983, Comiso airport had 112 Cruise missiles and was one of NATO’s principal bases in Southern Europe during the Cold War. This fact also brought about frequent and innumerable demonstrations by pacifist organizations. Following the end of the Cold War, the nuclear base was eventually dismantled, with the last Cruise missile removed on 26 March 1991, leading to the closure of the airport in the late 1990’s. In 1999, at the height of the war in Yugoslavia, the former military base served as a refuge for five thousand people from Kosovo who had fled the war.

Works to convert the airport into a civilian airport commenced on 23 April 2004, mainly thanks to a financing package from the Italian Government amounting to more than € 48 million approved on 28 May 2004. The project involved the completion of a 2460 meter runway equipped with a state-of-the-art Instrumental Landing System (ILS). The Comiso Airport is intended to complement the existing Aeroporto Vincenzo Bellini (formerly Fontanarossa) in Catania, which is a two-hour drive away, in order to serve the province of Ragusa, which is currently experiencing an increased interest from North Italians and Europeans, who are buying various types of property in the area, undoubtedly attracted by the various interesting sites and attractions which the province of Ragusa has to offer.

Foremost of these are the UNESCO world heritage sites of Ragusa Ibla, Scicli, Noto and Modica, as also the Hyblean mountains, the long stretches of uncontaminated sandy beaches and fishing villages, the gastronomical delights arising from this agriculturally-rich area and the architectural and archaelogical gems with which the province is dotted.

The interest in the province of Ragusa is also being fuelled by two other projects which are currently in an advanced state of completion, namely the Golf Course and touristic village at Santa Croce Camerina, which is being developed by the leading Spanish hotel chain NH, and the yacht marina at Marina di Ragusa, both of which are expected to be fully operational by mid-2009.

The airport has been officially opened on 30 April 2007 under the name of Aeroporto Pio La Torre, a communist parliamentarian who was committed against the militarization of the airport and of Sicily in general and who was killed by the Mafia on 30 April 1982.

The airport is being managed by SAC (Societa’ Aeroporto Catania) who won the tender to manage the airport for the next forty years. The airport is expected to be handed over to SAC on 15 September 2008. The inauguration of the terminal is expected to follow shortly so as to enable the airport to receive scheduled, charter, low cost and cargo traffic by early 2009.

During the fact-finding mission in Malta, the SOACO delegation had fruitful and interesting meetings with Mr Tonio Farrugia, General Manager (Commercial and Ground Handling Agreements) at Air Malta, Mr Milad S Jaleddi, Managing Director of the Libyan Arab Maltese Holding Company, Mr A Dekna, General Manager of Medavia, Mr Martin Farrugia, Managing Director of Meeting Point International and Mr Kevin J Borg, Director General of the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise.

Following the meetings, Dr Maravigna stated that there is much scope for collaboration between SOACO and the various organizations he met during the fact-finding mission with the objective of increasing business both within and to the region.