North America, Africa, the Middle East and a new 'boutique plane': the 2024 ITA Airways

New routes to North America, the Middle East and Africa.

And the entry of new aircraft into a fleet that will have touched 79 aircraft by the end of this year. ITA Airways presented today at TTG in Rimini, our country's leading tourism trade fair, his plans for the Winter 2023-2024 season that will start next December 29. But he has 'stretched' his gaze to 2024. Which is expected to be the year when the agreement with the Germans of Lufthansaonce it gets (as is hoped) the green light from the European Antitrust Authority, it will begin to bear fruit in terms of cooperation and synergies.

Meanwhile, the 2023-2024 winter season will bring with it a new destination: Rio De Janeiro, which will be served daily from Rome Fiumicino starting Oct. 29 with a mix of Airbus A330-200s and the new A330-900s. From December 16, the Rome-Maldive connection will resume, which will be operated with A330-900 three to five times a week, depending on the period, until next spring. In all, in the coming winter ITA will operate to 52 destinations, including 17 domestic, 23 international and 12 intercontinental.

On the fleet side, the biggest news for winter 2023-2024 will be the arrival (in December) of the first A321neo, medium-haul narrow-cabin aircraft that ITA will set up in three classes of service (and could be called a 'boutique airplane' for that matter): Business (12 seats with seats that can be converted into beds), Premium Economy (12 seats) and Economy (141 seats). The three-cabin configuration is the same as that ITA Airways passengers find on board the wide-body aircraft operating the long-haul routes: the A330-200 and A330-900, with the A350-900s receiving an upgrade just during the coming winter from the current two classes of service (Business and Economy) to three (Business, Premium Economy, Economy).

Where ITA's A321s will fly

The A321neo will be used to serve from Rome totally new markets for the carrier: the Middle East and West and sub-Saharan Africa. Thus, from May 2024 it will fly to Riyadh, from June 2024 to Accra (in Ghana) and Kuwait City, from July to the Senegalese capital Dakar, and from October to Jeddah.

ITA lands in Chicago and Toronto

Spring next year will also bring with it two new destinations in North America: Chicago, which will be served from April 7 six times a week, rising to seven from June 7; and Toronto, which will start May 1 with six weekly frequencies, rising to seven from June. The connection to Chicago, the company explains in a note, is open for sales as of today.

Both Toronto and Chicago are major hubs of Air Canada and United Airlines respectively. And the two companies are part of the AA+ transatlantic alliance together with Lufthansa, which ITA will enter in turn with the implementation of the agreement made with the German company.

A220/100 arrives

Finally, returning to the fleet, the coming winter will see the delivery of the first Airbus A220-100, the 'little brother' of the A220-300 of which ITA already has five in its fleet. Capable of carrying 125 passengers, it will enable enhanced regional connections within Europe by increasing feeder to the Fiumicino hub and allow ITA to operate the lucrative business route between Milan Linate Airport and London City with its own aircraft.

"From January 2023 to date, we have carried more than 11 million passengers, 55% more than the same period in 2022, with an average load factor of 80%, 7.5 percentage points higher than the same period in 2022 with an increase in passenger revenue of +83% compared to the first 9 months of last year. We now look forward to the future with a focus on intercontinental development," commented Emiliana Limosani, Chief Commercial Officer of ITA Airways and CEO of Volare, the company's frequent flyer program.

• New Routes