ROME -- The Italian skies saw around 160 million passengers in 2015 and with half of those flying on low cost airlines Ryanair and EasyJet stayed on top of the market, whilst Alitalia ruled in the national sphere, according to Enac, the network for civil aviation.

 Their latest report showed a growth of 4.5 percent in the number of people flying and an increase in one fell swoop to 30 million passengers for Ryanair leaving Alitalia far behind by 7 million.  EasyJet has been confirmed as the third aviation power with 14 million passengers, though the British company comes in second behind the Irish for its international arrivals and departures.

 Alitalia can console themselves, however, with the data on national flights that show them landing on top, with 12.3 million passengers compared to the 10 million flying with Ryanair.

 Rome’s Leonardo Da Vinci Airport at Fiumicino has also once again been named Italy’s top destination, as the key portal into the country – with 40 million passengers last year compared with the 38 million from the year before, showing an increase of 5.1 percent.

 Milan Malpensa conversely has fallen by 1.2 percent from 18.6 to 18.4 million, whilst Ryanair’s Bergamo base saw the biggest increase of 18.5 percent from the 8.7 million passengers registered in 2014 to more than 10.3 the following year.

 In terms of capital sanctions, in the 2013-2015 triennium 147 penalties were issued totalling more than 222,000 euros for carriers and companies that have not complied with the rules on passenger safety.

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