ITA Airways receives first Airbus A220-100 and puts it on Linate-London City immediately

Within a couple of days of its arrival from the Airbus plant in Montreal, and the brand new A220-100 from ITA Airways (named after former track and field champion Fiona May) has been put to hard work. Since last Friday, the 'baby Airbus' (which can carry 125 passengers compared to 148 on the more capacious -300 series) has been operating all the three rotations by the Italian airline between Milan Linate and London City Airport.

A 'valuable' route, because it is mostly used by business passengers, willing (they or their companies) to spend more on the Milan-London route 'in exchange' for the advantage of landing (or departing) from a stopover that is only a few minutes' drive from the City of London.

Until last Thursday, ITA had used on the same route wet-lease aircraft, specifically Embraer of German German Airways and CRJ-1000 of Spanish Hibernian. Aircraft less capacious than the A220-100, but especially older and less comfortable than the 'Baby Airbus' put on the route since Friday.

The A220 is equipped with wider seats, new custom lighting, larger windows and roomier overhead bins. The cabin, is configured in the Business and Economy classes of service, but it is just a matter of position on board, since the seats are the same for all passengers.

The A220-100 is also equipped with a Wi-Fi connection system thanks to which the traveler can use: messaging, mailing and streaming, and all seats are equipped with USB ports.

"I am proud of this first ITA Airways Milano Linate - London City flight, operated with the new Airbus A220-100," said Francesco Presicce, Accountable Manager and Chief Technology Officer ITA Airways.. "Today's entry of the new aircraft into the fleet is another major milestone achieved by the company, which currently boasts a fleet of 82 aircraft, including the A220, A320neo, A330neo and next-generation A350."

Three more A220-100s are expected to enter service in the coming weeks, while October saw the delivery of two A220-300s, bringing to 8 (but soon to be, in fact, 11) the fleet of A220s employed by ITA Airways. The carrier has ordered a total of 26 A220s (12 of the -100 series and 14 of the -300 series).

These arrivals should allow By the end of 2023, a stop to the use of other companies' wet-leased aircraft (i.e. also complete with crew) by the Italian company to make up for the 'shortage' of its own machines.

• A220