Hello again to everyone!
Today I'm bringing you the latest details on ITA. First the basics, Alitalia known as Italy's main airline, has been in tourbled waters for many many years, twice the Italian government bailed out Alitalia just to keep it operating. Well that time is over and the third time is not a charm for Alitalia. This time the government decided to let Alitalia fold, and instead has been working on launching a national airline for the last year or two. I give you ITA. ITA will be Italy's new national carrier and government owned. ITA was approved for flight operations late last month by Euro authorities, and just on Monday the DOT granted ITA flight authoriztion to/from the US.
ITA will start flight services on October 15th, 2021 in Europe:
ITALY operations
Brindisi, Bologna, Bari, Catania, Rome Fiumicino, Florence¹, Genoa, Milan Linate, Naples, Palermo, Pescara, Reggio Calabria, Lamezia Terme, Trieste, Turin, Venice and Verona
EUROPE, NORTH AFRICA AND MIDDLE EAST operations
Algeri, Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Belgrade⁴, Brussels, Cairo, Dusseldorf, Frankfurt, Geneva, London Heathrow, Luxembourg¹, Madrid, Malaga², Malta, Marseille³, Munich, Nice, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Paris Orly, Sofia⁴, Stuttgart¹, Tirana, Tel Aviv, Tunis, Valencia³, Zurich
& the REST OF THE WORLD
Boston, Buenos Aires¹, Sao Paulo¹, Tokyo Haneda, Washington¹, New York, Los Angeles¹, Miami
¹ Destinations available from March 2022
² Destinations available from June 2022
³ Destinations available from July 2022
⁴ Destinations available from August 2022
As you see above ITA will service the US, and by the end of 2021 ITA should be servicing Rome from New York City, Boston & Miami, and Milan from New York. With futher additions in 2022 to include flights out of San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles & D.C.
ITA is not simply taking over all of Alitalia's routes, planes, hubs, and operations, but with Alitalia being liquated ITA will purchase or has purchased several aspects of Alitalia operations and ownership of some of Alitalia's planes. ITA is said to operate at about 50% of Alitalia's network & operations.
Ticketing on ITA has now been unlocked for future travel.
I expect out the gate ITA will be extremely competive with the US carriers servicing Rome & Milan at discounted prices to grow initial revenue and try to attract US travelers to give it a go. What remains to be seen is how will ITA services fare? That will take time to determine.
I have high hopes for ITA, but also have concerns as Alitalia's flagoperations were notorious for a lot of problems. Can ITA really bring Italy into the next decade of Italian Air Operations successfully?
Avenue Two Travel
Luxury Travel Advisor
412-345-7569