Trapani Birgi, 21 million to fly again. But this time Palermo puts its signature on it.

Twenty-one million euros. This is the price that the Sicilian Region is willing to pay to revitalize the "Vincenzo Florio" airport in Trapani Birgi, one of the minor airports in Italy with the old habit of remaining minor. The regional council has approved a draft agreement between the Tourism Department and Airgest, the management company of the airport, of which Palermo is the majority shareholder: seven million a year for the three-year period 2026-2028, intended to sign agreements with airlines to develop new connections, both national and international.

The declared goal is that during those three years at least 3.3 million passengers transit through Birgi, with a maximum cap set at 3.7 million. Ambitious numbers for an airport that in recent years has seen more departures than arrivals, in terms of airlines. In the event that the minimums are not reached, the agreement provides for a mechanism of proportional repayment of public funds — a clause that is usually included to reassure auditors, and that is rarely applied.

The president Renato Schifani outlined the operation in terms he is accustomed to: «More flights mean more tourists, more visitors, more jobs: practically a multiplier of wealth». The logic is that of the economic flywheel, well-established in manuals and somewhat less so in reality when flights do not arrive. The document has received favorable opinions from the Economy and Infrastructure departments, and now goes to the Legislative Commission of the Ars for the opinion required by law before the final signing.

Birgi is not the only chapter in the regional airport strategy. In Comiso, in the Ragusa area, the "Pio La Torre" airport is awaiting the completion of a much larger investment: 47 million euros from the Development and Cohesion Fund, unlocked after the approval of the European Union, for infrastructural development and particularly for the cargo area — deemed strategic for the logistics of the entire island. The project is currently under evaluation at the Ministry of the Environment. For the routes, however, a separate agreement is already operational for three million a year for the three-year period 2025-2027, with an initial installment of 750,000 euros already disbursed.

Two airports, two stories, one bet: that Sicily manages to fill the planes before asking airlines to land there.