The airport at Taranto Grottaglie started operations in 1964, although only for regular Alitalia commercial flights to Rome. By 1965, when Ati took over, it soon became one of the Southern by-links connecting Apulia with Friuli Venezia Giulia. Ati turned to new DC 9/30 jets by 1968, starting a new flight to Milano Linate through Genova: however, the following year the airport was shut down as a consequence of the "Rapporto Lino" safety report on Italian airports and their standards. It remained unused for 16 years, although some infrastructures were improved, especially towards the removal of some runway obstacles, the building of a passenger terminal and the new Firemen barracks. In 1989 the "Marcello Arlotta" airport of Grottaglie continues operations thanks to Alinord Fokker F 28 aircrafts, connecting Taranto to Rome Ciampino, Bergamo, Perugia and Milano Linate. In 1990 the Roman airline Alinord goes out of business, so Grottaglie only works for general aviation and business flights for almost 3 years, up until 1993, when the airline Genavia, thanks to its Cessan Citation plane, starts a connection with Genova, only to stop even this by the end of September. Soon the jetliners from Liguria were replaced by a Victor Fly aircraft, a carrier based in Bari that connects Grottaglie with Rome Fiumicino. Despite the carrier's efforts to use bigger aircrafts, Victor Fly flights are canceled, thus leaving Taranto without regular flights.