The cross-border cooperation project ON CLOUD NINE, cONnecting CLOse and Unexplored Destinations with New INterAdriatic transport sErvices, was launched on 26 September 2018 in Bari (IT).
The project is funded within the 1st Call for Standard projects of the Interreg IPA CBC Italy-Albania-Montenegro Programme, Axis 4 “Increasing cross border accessibility, promoting sustainable transport service and facilities and improving public infrastructures”, with a total budget of 1.441.800,00 EUR. The project duration is 24 months, from 31 March 2018 to 30 March 2020.
The Lead Partner is Airports of Puglia S.p.A. The other partners are: JSC Airports of Montenegro, Molise Region and Albanian Civil Aviation Authority. The associated partner is Puglia Region – Local Public Transport and Major Projects Department.
ON CLOUD NINE aims to create new connections between Puglia and Albania and between Puglia and Montenegro through the experimental start-up of the Brindisi-Tirana and Bari-Podgorica air routes. The project will thus generate new opportunities for development and growth in the involved territories and help break down the barriers limiting movement of people in the partner countries.
The main project activities are: the experimentation of two new air routes for passengers (Bari-Podgorica and Brindisi-Tirana); the strengthening of existing transport connections at urban and interregional level and the improvement of passengers' travel experience through the implementation of interventions aimed at strengthening airport facilities in terms of infrastructures and services.
The expected result is the enhancement of passengers’ mobility in the programme area, through the development and improvement of new cross-border, sustainable and integrated transport solutions. All these project outputs ameliorate travel experience of passengers that can become happy and perfectly satisfied (i.e. feeling “on cloud nine”).
The Regional Councilor for Transport and Public Works Giovanni Giannini pointed out that “improving air transport offer in the cooperation area, in terms of flexibility, frequency and coordination with other means of transport, will contribute significantly to the virtuous development of both tourism and economic territorial systems and it combines perfectly with Puglia Region macro-strategies for innovation and development of mobility services”.
"We have always been attentive to the development of fast and effective connections that improve the circulation of people and goods between countries for which the Adriatic does not represent an element of separation" said prof. Tiziano Onesti, the President of Airports of Puglia S.p.A. "In this context, it is extremely important to have valid cooperation tools, such as it is the project ON CLOUD NINE to benefit from the opportunities offered by projects of this value, facilitating the start-up phase and the desirable consolidation of air links that bring our communities, linked by history and very strong partnerships, connected and closer.“