Brief Description

SWAN project aims to the development and the implementation of dedicated seaplane infrastructures within the Ports of Corfu, Paxoi, Diapontia Islands, Taranto, Gallipoli, and Nardo.
The project idea was developed as direct consequence of the lack of fast transportation within the region and takes advantage of previous experiences. One important issue is the need to use seaplanes to connect main Ports, thus enhancing intermodality and also providing direct access to the city center, where usually Ports are located.

The clear understanding of the need to develop direct connections inside Ports, created the synergy among the Port Authorities of Corfu and Taranto.
The infrastructures of the water aerodromes, will support the multimodal integration and interconnection of transport modes, particularly the use of amphibious aircraft will enable the direct connection from land to water areas, like Port to Airport or from Port to Port or other remote or tourist areas. The infrastructure will include the realisation of dedicated mini-terminals, providing additional services to passengers, tourists and Inhabitants of the Programme area, providing different type of connections to the destination area, working as a mini-hub for local transport needs and providing also web-based information to the community.

The water airport infrastructure will be highly environment-friendly, with simple and removable pontoons, while the operations area in the water area will be developed considering noise-abatement take off and approach path. Furthermore, an extensive flight-testing activity will be performed to guarantee the maximum safety and best efficiency. Inhabitants and tourists of the Programme area will be highly benefited by the water aerodromes and described services.

Another important activity of the project is to develop and implement a training scheme related to the commercial seaplane handling and management on the water aerodromes. A specific training program will be developed and implemented with reference to successful examples worldwide. The training program will qualify the personnel also to Civil Protection duties. Learning from previous experiences, a different approach in the future management of the water aerodromes will be used. In previous Adri-seaplanes project the water airports were supposed to be managed directly by the Ports or by the Municipalities within the Port/Municipality budget, but that approach has shown of not being always successful. Τhus, the project will focus to award private companies for the management of the water airport contributing to the local economy, creating more jobs and making the operation cost of the aerodromes sustainable.