Rimini, 14 October 2016 -  Fiumicino is confirmed as the Far East’s gateway to Italy, in Rome, also due to its dedicated services to Asian passengers, awarded with the Welcome Chinese certification. Today the airport received the certification at TTG Incontri 2016, one of the main Italian events dedicated to tourism, taking place every year in Rimini.

Confirmation of the certification is proof of Fiumicino airport’s investments on the Asian and Chinese markets. Indeed, Leonardo da Vinci is one of the leading airports in Europe, together with Paris and Frankfurt, in terms of the number of cities in Greater China that are directly connected: Beijing, Xi'an, Chongqing, Haikou, Wuhan, Canton, Shanghai, Wenzhou, Hong Kong and Taipei. These are 10 main destinations accessible from Leonardo da Vinci, with seven airlines: Alitalia, Air China, Cathay Pacific, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern and Hainan Airlines.

In 2015, there have been more than 500,000 Chinese passengers landing or departing from Rome's airport. The forecast for 2016 is of a larger number, with 650,000 expected travellers, a +30% increase compared to last year.

The traffic volumes are expected to undergo further increases, also thanks to the important agreement in place with Chinese airports and airlines in the cities of Canton and Chengdu, recently obtained by ADR. The aim is to strengthen ADR's role as main Italian player acting as a reference for the Chinese market, and see the launch of new and additional Chinese flights to and from Fiumicino.

The Welcome Chinese Gold level involves the development of operations to promote Rome’s airport on the Asian market, to encourage both tour operators and individual passengers to use Fiumicino airport when planning their travels. There are also multiple projects dedicated to the B2B sector, including a partnership with Union Pay, a payment system that is very common in China, and with Chinese broadcasting company CCTV, which has a channel exclusively dedicated to travellers. These initiatives are added to those that are already in place for Mandarin-Chinese speaking passengers in Fiumicino, such as the informational-commercial signage, the website and its mobile version, offered in Chinese; the availability of free hot water in the airport's catering areas and the Shopping Helper service, involving ADR stewardesses offering assistance, in Chinese, on the brands available in the airport’s extensive shopping area.

Aeroporti di Roma, Company of the Atlantia Group, manages and develops the airports of Roma Fiumicino and Ciampino and undertakes other activities relating and complementary to airport management. Fiumicino operates through four passenger terminals. It is dedicated to business and leisure clients on national, international and intercontinental routes; Ciampino is mainly used by low-cost airlines, by express-couriers and for operations of the General Aviation in 2015, the ADR airport system registered over 46 million passengers, with 240 destinations across the world reachable from Rome, thanks to around 100 airlines operating in the two airports.