Spotlight on Milan – Your blue ocean opportunity 2020

After Ryanair will close their base at NUE in April 2020, amongst other Italian destinations, an important destination for Nuremberg will become unserved: Milan.

Passengers travelling from Nuremberg to Milan do so mainly for business and additionally for VFR and leisure purposes. At the same time, Italy represents the second largest incoming market to Nuremberg. When introducing direct flights in W16, passenger numbers rose by 475% percent in the year after.

One significant trigger is the number of relevant trade shows in Nuremberg: “Northern Italy is the strongest source market worldwide for ‘NürnbergMesse’ ”, states Stefania Calcaterra, Managing Director of NürnbergMesse Italia S.r.l. “My team is based in Milan as a subsidiary of NürnbergMesse and we recognise a solid passenger stream, including us, between here and Nuremberg”.

The route NUE-MIL, also due to the sector length, performs above German average and shows promising yields. Already during Ryanair’s operation of the NUE-BGY route, Nuremberg Airport’s catchment shows significant leakage to MXP: 48,900 passengers annually travel from other surrounding airports in order to reach MXP. Due to the scheduled flight times, Ryanair was not able to catch the entire market size, especially not in the business segment. An interesting indicator is the existing number of ongoing/indirect passengers of 12,500 passengers in 2018. Including the existing proven market size of 92,800 and an estimated 5% stimulation, the passenger potential to Milan from NUE is at 197,400.

Nuremberg Airport’s approach uses marine metaphors to explain the market, offering partner airlines unserved “blue ocean” routes and the opportunity to avoid the “shark tank” of exhausted markets. A bonus programme offers attractive staggered discounts of up to 50% on charges over a five year period. A “first-mover-bonus” for carriers taking over Ryanair routes is currently in preparation.