The report (DELIVERABLE D.T1.3.1 of SOLAR project) describes the current condition about connections between Molise region and the five nearest cities with an airport infrastructure: Rome, Naples, Pescara, Foggia and Bari. The objective is the evaluation of the connections between Molise and airports also by the environmental point of view. For ease of reading, the analysis is carried out using Campobasso as the city representing the Molise region. The airport of Rome Fiumicino is an intercontinental airport with services for all continents and a very large number of possible destinations for Italy and Europe, including also low cost airlines. The railway directly reaches the airport.  The Airport of Naples Capodichino is largely growing in the last years because it becomes an operational base for some low-cost airlines. The traffic of the airport is mainly associated to national trips. The airport of Pescara is a secondary airport with about 15 possible destinations in Italy and in Europe. The services are involving low-cost airlines and Lufthansa connections with hubs in Germany. The railway directly reaches the airport but the runs per day are very limited. The airport in Foggia starts public aviation services in November 2022 and today it works with direct flights for 4 Italian cities (Milan, Turin, Catania and Verona). Finally, the Bari airport is a strategic airport in the Italian airport system with more than 5 million of passengers every year and a large supply of flights with destination in Italy and many other countries in Europe. The low-cost airlines represent about 75% of the traffic. The airport is used mainly for national trip but it is constantly increasing also the international traffic. The railway directly reaches the airport.

According to this short review about the characteristics of the airports located close to the Molise region, it could be possible to underline that Bari airport and in perspective, the Foggia airport represent important nodes of the transport network for travelling in Molise. Fiumicino airport is obviously the only hub close to Molise region and one of the more frequent nodes of passing for intercontinental connection. Naples and Bari airport, instead, represents the closest point for accessing a large set of flights with national and international destinations among European countries. Pescara is the less interesting airport for the small number of flights at disposal and, by this point of view, it has not to be considered in competition with Bari or Foggia. This last new airport could increase the importance for the Molise region but it is still a small regional airport. The next table shows the existing land connections among Campobasso and the five selected airports.

As clearly shown by the results, the car is the less sustainable solutions while the bus, for this specific travel, represent an optimal solution with increasing environmental efficiency with the growth of the number of passengers transported. The railway solution is not so effective for the lack of direct lines and services, requiring longer distance of travel. Of course, this is a normal condition for the transport system when it is considered an area of few and dispersed population as the Molise region.