New territorial continuity 'takes off' today: the differences between ITA and Aeroitalia (and Volotea)

This is it. Today, Sunday, October 27., the new territorial continuity in Sardinia officially begins. As we have reported in several articles, in the airports of Cagliari and Olbia (in this case jointly with Volotea, for what concerns connections to and from Rome) Aeroitalia will be operating the routes under territorial continuity; on the contrary, in Alghero will be ITA Airways instead.. In today's article we try to understand what are the differences between ITA and Aeroitalia (and Volotea) On routes under territorial continuity.

Territorial continuity pricing in Sardinia

The prices are practically identical, amounting to about €150.00. A round-trip ticket to fly from Cagliari to Rome with Aeroitalia costs €150.38; ITA, on the other hand, for the Alghero-Milan (LIN) route charges €156.72, while Volotea charges €155.29 to fly from Olbia to Rome.

Included in ITA's fare is one 8kg carry-on bag, one 23kg checked bag, and free flight change and cancellation.

Aeroitalia's territorial continuity flight fare, on the other hand, includes one carry-on and one trolley bag to be stowed in the overhead compartment, one 23kg suitcase to be checked in, and free check-in at the airport.

Finally, Volotea, in its CT fare, includes one cabin carry-on bag (10kg), one checked-in bag (25kg), free airport check-in, change (in case the fare is different, you will need to pay the difference), and flight refund (free of charge).

Fleet

The differences, in this case, are there and can be seen (and heard). ITA Airways' fleet is not only larger (96 aircraft in total, including wide-bodies, compared to 13 for Aeroitalia) but is also younger. 

ITA's fleet has an average age of 7 years (on which the years carried on its shoulders by the A319s and A330-200s formerly Alitalia's are having no small impact) and consists of 16 Airbus A220s, 10 A319s, 31 A320s, 7 A321s, 16 A330s and 6 A350s.

Aeroitalia's fleet, on the other hand, has an average age of nearly 20 years and has 2 ATR-72s, 1 Airbus A319, and 10 Boeing 737s.

All this, of course, does not translate into less safety and reliability: with proper maintenance, as is well known, aircraft can fly for decades without any problems. The argument we make relates solely to the age, as such, of the "irons": a young fleet is composed of newer and therefore quieter, greener and less lived-in aircraft. That's it.

Connecting flights

This is the sore point. While passengers flying from Alghero will have the opportunity to take advantage of ITA's connecting flights, the same cannot be said for those departing from Cagliari and Olbia (with both Aeroitalia and Volotea).

If, for example, you plan to fly from Cagliari (or Olbia) to New York or Tokyo, you will need to make two separate reservations and this entails some extra hassle: once we arrive at the stopover airport-let's assume it is Milan-Malpensa or Rome (FCO)-we will have to not only collect our luggage and re-board it but also go through, again, security checks.

In these cases, considering that they are two separate PNRs, it will be appropriate to calculate the connection time very well. 

• territorial continuity