ITA Airways says goodbye to Heathrow: last takeoff on March 30, then will fly only to London City

ITA Airways says goodbye to London Heathrow airport.. The last flights in blue livery From London's main airport to Rome and Milan Will be operated on Saturday, March 30.

Per decades, the one to Heathrow has been a 'flagship route', a highly prestigious route from Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate. Landing at the most prestigious airport in the British capital (and, arguably, in Europe). Has long been a status symbol, for our national airline. Why there, and not at Gatwick (let alone Stansted). landed and landed the companies that mattered. In the 1980s and 1990s, from Fiumicino and Linate, Alitalia even operated some of its flights to Heathrow with the Airbus A300, the 250-plus passenger wide body.

But Then the low-cost airlines appeared: Ryanair and easyjet above them all. That they started flying from Rome, Milan and many other Italian cities. to Stansted, Gatwick and Luton, the airports in the 'London suburbs', At prices much lower than those of Alitalia and British Airways and with multiple daily frequencies. For those who did not intend to continue their journey beyond London, using Heathrow as a stopover, it became unnecessary to shoulder the higher prices of flights over Heathrow.

And so, while British Airways has maintained its flights from Rome, Milan, and major Italian cities to Heathrow as a feeder to its intercontinental flights, Alitalia first and ITA Airways later began to 'pull the oars', gradually reducing their frequencies at Heathrow.

The reason lies in the fact that the stopover has become today. One of the most expensive airports in the world, in terms of landing fees and handling operations. Add to this the fact that, in recent years, slots at Heathrow have changed hands for six-figure sums, and one understands the reasons for the gradual withdrawal of the former flag carrier and its 'heir' from Heathrow.

In recent months, ITA has operated from Linate to Heathrow two daily flights on weekdays and one on Saturdays and Sundays; from Rome Fiumicino only one daily flight from Monday to Sunday. The latter had been 'ennobled', as of early last December, by the choice to operate it With the brand new three-class Airbus A321neo (Business, Premium Economy and Economy), equipped with lie-flat seats in Business Class.

But the last Italian plane to take off from Heathrow on Saturday, March 30, will be an Airbus A320neo: the 5:10 p.m. AZ 207, which will land at Fiumicino Airport at 8:50 p.m. From the next day, ITA will connect Rome and Milan only with London City Airport: one route, operated with the new A220-100s, far more profitable because it is used mainly by businessmen intent on getting to the City of London quickly once they have landed in the English capital.

The British city airport is by far the most convenient airport if you want to get to the city center using cabs or public transportation. And the waiver of Heathrow should be read in a policy of cost efficiency which a few weeks ago had led to the Milan Malpensa-New York JFK stop., a route that brought no profit to the company.

After decades of complaining about Alitalia's 'waste', the strategy adopted by ITA can only be shared. The world of air transport is constantly evolving in terms of dynamics, priorities and costs. And it is only fair that a company be able to 'read' these evolutions and react accordingly.

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