Here's my (probably poor) attempt to translate an article published in today's edition of "L'Unione Sarda", a very popular newspaper in Cagliari.
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He mistook the taxiway for the runway. On Easter, a Ryanair 737 landed on the wrong tarmac strip. The captain was lucky: had another airplane been on the taxiway, or a fuel truck, or any other airport vehicle, the consequences would've been different.
RUNWAY IN SIGHT - It is shortly past 1115 on Sunday, when the Irish Boeing approaches Cagliari airport. Arriving from Girona (Barcelona), it is now in the final phase of the flight, assisted by Decimo Approach (the ATS unit managed by the Italian Air Force). It's a cloudy day and visibility is less than perfect, but that's not a problem for the crew. Runway 32 is in use in Elmas: that's the main runway, officially opened on April 9th. Before that date, traffic would land on the parallel runway, now used as a taxiway. To make sure that all crews were informed, the runway switch was published in the NOTAMS. In any case, the taxiway has two huge crosses on each end, indicating that takeoff and landing is prohibited. On top of that, the main runway is lit. These signs are not enough. The pilot, who never made contact with Elmas' Tower, follows a procedure that was used before the main runway reopened: once established on the ILS and abeam Santa Gilla's Auchan (local mall, FYI 
), he leaves the instrument approach and makes a right turn to align with the runway: the taxiway, that is...the "wrong runway".
PANIC - The Tower controllers immediately realise that something's not going right. About 1300 metres from the runway, the Boeing leaves the glide slope and veers a few degrees away from the original course. The controllers are not in contact with the captain, still tuned on Decimomannu's frequency because of the poor visibility, and cannot contact him - procedures advise against this, as it would distract the pilot in the most critical phase of the flight. They call Decimo for more information, but in the mean time, the aircraft has already landed. All's well that ends well. But what would've happened if a fuel truck or another airplane had been on the taxiway?
THE INQUIRIES - The Italian Air Force, ENAC (the Italian CAA) and ENAV (the Italian ANSP) have their reports ready to be sent to ANSV (the Italian AAIB), who will open an investigation on this matter. We had no luck trying to establish the Irish company's version of the story: our calls were left unanswered.
ANDREA ARTIZZU