Campania e Puglia, alleanza tra i distretti dell’aerospazio

Recent discussions between the two Italian aerospace districts in Campania and Puglia highlight the importance of their alignment. Fulvio Bonavitacola, the Assessor for Economic Development in Naples, and Eugenio Di Sciascio, the Assessor for the same entity in Bari, have been in talks over the past weeks about the future of Leonardo's Aerostructures business unit and potential industrial partnerships.

Bonavitacola emphasized that Campania and Puglia represent the main aerospace platform in the Mezzogiorno and one of the most significant in the whole country. By presenting themselves united before institutions, they aim to assert a unified vision of the Mezzogiorno as a major aerospace hub. A common strategy would also help bolster the region's ability to attract European and national resources, ranging from FESR funds to the Step program, and tools for innovation and research.

Campania's aerospace industry is represented by the Dac district, which still welcomes new members (34 large enterprises; 122 PMIs; 15 research centers, including the 5 universities of Campania, with a combined turnover of €4 billion and 15,000 employees). Luigi Carrino, the president of Dac, stated that integration already exists and can grow, but a new joint project is also needed.

Pointing towards a new civil aircraft, he argued that Campania and Puglia can continue to develop in terms of productivity, but especially in research and innovation.

Supporting this view, a study by Srm, a think tank affiliated with Intesa Sanpaolo, highlighted the already concrete economic ties between the two regions. Campania is the primary destination market for Puglian aerospace products and the second most important for Puglian food products. Puglia, on the other hand, is the second most important market for Campanian food and automotive productions.

Together, the two regions have over 831,000 total enterprises, more than 3 million workers, and a combined GDP of €231.7 billion, which is 10.5% of the national wealth. The Director General of Srm, Massimo Deandreis, emphasized that this is an existing integration that needs to be discussed economically and socially, and the realization of the high-speed Napoli-Bari line would certainly favor this development.