ITA Airways: Tokyo takes off in April, South America in June
In recent weeks we had published ITA Airwyas flight operations to the United States. Now the new airline's [...]
ITA Airways
SkyTeam
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In recent weeks we had published the flight operations of ITA Airwyas to the United States. Now the new Italian flag carrier has also made official and put up for sale the remaining intercontinental routes that will start, as per the business plan, in 2022. The routes will all be operated from Rome Fiumicino to Tokyo Haneda, Sao Paulo in Brazil, and Buenos Aires in Argentina.
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These three destinations complete the intercontinental network. Looking forward to receiving the first new aircraft For the long haul, only the 7 Airbus A330/300s will be used Of the old Alitalia fleet.
Destination Tokyo
Right now, Japan's borders are still sealed, or almost sealed. After authorizing travel for the Olympic Games., to date the criteria for being able to travel to the Rising Sun nation are very strict, and nonessential travel is not among them. The route is scheduled to be reactivated in April and will be operated by Rome to Tokyo Haneda. Before the crisis there were two Alitalia connections, but to the city's other airport, namely Narita, one also took off from Milan. Pending what the Japanese airline ANA will do, ITA's connection will be the only direct flight between Italy and Japan.
Tickets for this route are not yet on sale; they probably will be in the coming weeks. This has always been, along with New York, the most profitable route for Alitalia also because it was mainly used by Japanese passengers to come to our country. In fact, staff based right in Tokyo were on board so as to ensure native-speaking assistance to passengers.
Destination South America
South America, thanks to the high number of Italian immigrants and the many homegrown companies with subsidiaries or partnerships in this part of the world, has always been a destination covered by Alitalia, and ITA is not changing its strategy either. Both flights to São Paulo and Buenos Aires will take off in June. The choice does not convince me much, as the Italian summer corresponds with the austral winter and the low season for flights to these destinations.
Again, tickets are not yet available. When sales open, we will find out whether these routes, which along with Japan and Los Angeles are the longest in ITA's operations, will be operated with old A330s or new planes.
No more flight to Washington
Contrary to initial reports, the route between Rome Fiumicino and Washington DC. This had been Alitalia's last news to the U.S., as the flight to San Francisco had been announced for the summer of 2020, the one swept away by the Covid and entry ban to the United States.
ITA and the near future
In recent days there have been numerous rumors about the future of ITA Airways. From Germany they report that ITA's CEO Altavilla has expressed numerous praises toward the Lufthansa Group and that the German carrier would seriously consider entering ITA's shareholding and then taking control.
From the other side of the Atlantic, however, come rumors of an interest by Delta, which is closely watching the maneuvers of the newly formed company and seems to be serious about a change of strategy. With Air France and KLM there is a solid partnership, with Virgin Atlantic of which it is a partner a garrison in the important UK market, with ITA the world's largest carrier would be considering becoming a partner and aiming at the Mediterranean area to leave no room for German competition.
There are two options: either ITA is skilled in marketing and PR And these could just be artfully made leaks to trigger the auction Or Altavilla and his team are really on the right track To relaunch the Italian company for real.
