Taken from the IAOPA-Europe e-newsletter, November 2006:

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Italy wins o­n Avgas

The board of directors of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority has decided that any company applying for a mandate to manage an airport in Italy will be compelled to guarantee the availability of all fuels required by aviators, and not o­nly JET A1.

The move has been roundly welcomed by AOPA-Italy president Massimo Levi, who has long sought such a requirement. Availability of avgas has been an even bigger problem in Italy than most other European countries and is o­ne of the major concerns for GA pilots in Italy.

Massimo says: “This decision is very important for us. It does not mean that all major airports will make avgas available overnight, but it is likely that for the next summer season the problem will be resolved at many large airports.”

Avgas will remain a problem o­n small airfields managed by flying clubs as the fiscal regulations in Italy are so complex that many clubs do not have the means to provide the service. AOPA is working with the Italian tax office to try to simplify the regulations.

More, better airspace

And there’s more good news from Italy. The Italian Civil Aviation Authority, recently appointed the regulating authority for Air Traffic Control activities, has published a text entitled: ‘Guidelines for the review of the Airspace revision in Italy’.

This text defines the rules that the Italian air navigation service provider ENAV will have to adhere to when re-structuring Italian airspace. o­ne basic rule described by Massimo as “music to our ears” is that controlled airspace must be reduced to “the minimum required for the safety of IFR traffic” and that it also has to be available to suitably-equipped VFR traffic.

It also stipulates that uncontrolled airspace should be easily available at many altitudes (not just 1,000 ft) and that the duty of controllers is to serve the needs of pilots, and they should advise them of possible problems along their route.

While some of this is taken for granted in other European countries, it is a great step forward for Italy – the country with the largest Class C CTRs in the world, as well as the largest Class A TMAs.

Massimo says: “Again, this does not mean that Italian airspace will be modified in the next few weeks, but we hope that in the not too distant future the situation will improve. A commission for the review of Italian airspace has been formed, and AOPA-Italy is part of it.”