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Fiumicino, 20 January 2023- It is a work of contemporary art with a strong visual impact. It reproduces in its original size, twelve metres long and weighing over seven hundred kilograms, the skeleton of a whale, illuminated inside by lamps from all over the world. The lights that illuminate the imposing installation constitute its still-burning soul, at the same time representing our society: if the animal lives, it also depends on us. It is an invitation to reflect on how nature is in our hands and depends on our care, reminding us how the world's beauty is fragile and closely linked to human behaviour.
With the installation of 'Grande Anima', Aeroporti di Roma once again confirms its commitment to raising public awareness on environmental issues such as saving water and recovering plastic, the leading cause of pollution of the seas, this time through culture.
Attention to the environment has led Leonardo da Vinci, one of the few airports in the world, to equip itself with a dual network that allows drinking water to be used only for strictly necessary uses and industrial water for all other needs. Thanks to these systems, more than 66 per cent of the water used at the airport is non-potable water, and the saving of drinking water amounts to more than 1 million cubic metres per year, corresponding to almost 500 Olympic-size swimming pools. Also, on the issue of waste, ADR has always been at the forefront, promoting a circular economy based on reducing the use of single-use plastics and increasing separation and recycling by involving all airport operators.
‘Grande Anima reminds us how essential it is to take care of the environment and especially how humanity and other species are closely interdependent. Besides reminding us all, with this significant visual impact, that every behaviour impacts the planet, it also allows us to tell our passengers about the full integration of the ESG strategy into our business.
With this work, we continue, as Europe's best airport for quality for five years, on our path to building the airport of the future: not only a bridge to the world but a place for reflection, contamination and growth, including cultural growth.
It is precisely this vision that has led us for some time now towards defining Leonardo da Vinci as The Careport, a word that integrates the concept of care at the heart of the airport: we want to welcome our passengers in a sustainable, caring and genuinely inclusive world,’ commented ADR CEO, Marco Troncone.
‘I am thrilled to present my work for the first time ever in such a unique context as an airport. Grand Anima invites us to reflect on the condition of our oceans and even more intensely on life and death, the potential of care, attention and the consequences of the individualism that breeds our lifestyle. But this vision has an oneiric solid, dream and fairy tale component. I want to create beauty, not denunciation, dream, and rhetoric. In this undefined, bittersweet play between dramatic representation and magical vision, the whale lives and flies lit by lights that belong to our world, our society: we are the lights. Thus an infinite game of cause and effect, of blame and merit, arises, in which we are the authors of the fate of nature, and thus of ourselves,’ explained the author of Grande Anima, Marcantonio.
The initiative is supported by One Ocean Foundation, a non-profit foundation working internationally with institutions, companies and individuals to safeguard the oceans; ASVIS, the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development, the most prominent Italian civil society network, committed to the promotion of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda, and Cultura Italiae, the association whose primary purpose is to disseminate and promote projects, concrete actions and good practices aimed at supporting the world of culture to stimulate, through it, the growth and ethical, social and economic development of individuals and communities as a whole, improving relations between peoples. Cultura Italiae, among others, also oversaw the selection of the work for the criteria of sustainability and environmental awareness.
Through the special QR code, in collaboration with Chora Media, travellers will be able to listen, via podcast, to the story 'Grande Anima - La balena di Fiumicino', which tells the story of the grey whale that arrived in 2021 off the coast of Fiumicino after various stops, including the Gulf of Naples and Anzio.
Aeroporti di Roma, an Atlantia Group company, manages and develops the Rome Fiumicino and Ciampino airports and carries out other activities related and complementary to airport management. Fiumicino has two passenger terminals and is dedicated to business and leisure customers on national, international and intercontinental routes; Ciampino is mainly used by low-cost airlines, express couriers and General Aviation activities. In 2019, ADR recorded, as an airport system, 49.4 million passengers with over 240 destinations worldwide that can be reached from Rome, thanks to the approximately 100 airlines operating in the two airports (In 2022, following the effects induced by Covid-19 on air transport, Fiumicino airport recorded just 29.4 million passengers, whilst Ciampino airport closed the year with 3.5 million passengers). Over the past five years, Aeroporti di Roma has received numerous awards, recognitions and quality certificates. Among these recognitions are the AIRPORT SERVICE QUALITY AWARD, awarded by ACI World for the category of European airports with more than 40 million passengers per year, for the years 2017 to 2021 for the high level of passenger satisfaction, and the ACI EUROPE BEST AIRPORT AWARD, category of airports with more than 40 million passengers per year for the years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022: the award, in this case, rewards the achievement of excellence in several disciplines, including security, operations, infrastructure, community relations, environmental awareness and customer care. Thanks to these achievements, in 2022 ACI World included ADR in the "Director General's Roll of Excellence", a roll of excellence to which only 64 out of more than 18,000 airports worldwide belong for the high levels of quality offered to their passengers. Since 2017 SKYTRAX has awarded Aeroporti di Roma the 4 STARS AIRPORT RATING, a certificate of excellence for its commitment to guaranteeing passengers the best possible experience. In 2018, Skytrax also awarded ADR WORLD'S MOST IMPROVED AIRPORT on the assessment of services experienced by passengers at various airports around the world. In 2022, ADR received the BEST AIRPORT STAFF IN EUROPE award from Skytrax for meeting precise parameters of friendliness and efficiency of customer service staff at the air terminal. During the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, Aeroporti di Roma distinguished itself with numerous health and safety awards: from ACI the AIRPORT HEALTH ACCREDITATION by ACI World on the compliance with health measures and protocols for 2020 and 2021, AIRPORT HEALTH MEASURES AUDIT PROGRAMME - ACI BUREAU VERITAS for 2020 on the effective implementation on the field of measures to combat COVID-19, by Skytrax COVID-19 SKYTRAX AIRPORT RATING 2020 on the efficiency of procedures and the COVID-19 AIRPORT EXCELLENCE AWARD 2021 for high health, hygiene and safety protocols during the pandemic. The RINA organisation also awarded Aeroporti di Roma with the BIOSAFETY TRUST CERTIFICATION in 2020. ADR also distinguished itself in terms of sustainability by receiving the LEADERSHIP IN SUSTAINABILITY AND COMMITMENT TO RESPONSIBLE TRAVEL from the United Nations World Tourism Organisation in 2020. In 2021, linked to the SESAR - Single European Sky project, the ACI EUROPE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION AWARD was awarded, recognising the airport's investment in the brand new Airport Operation Centre, and the implementation of the new innovation model centred on Open Innovation. In 2022 Plug and Play Tech Center, the largest private investment fund in Silicon Valley, awarded ADR the "Corporate Innovation Award" for its commitment to promoting open innovation initiatives and building an innovative "airport of the future".
EXTERNAL RELATIONS & SUSTAINABILITY DIRECTION
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