After 16 months, ITA gets a new Airbus A330-900 into the fleet and immediately puts it into service for Rio

He arrived from Toulouse on Friday at 8:25 p.m. and a little over two hours later, at 10:56 p.m., took off for its first flight with paying passengers bound for Rio De Janeiro, the twelfth Airbus A330-900 to enter ITA Airways' fleet.

It is a 'special' plane for two reasons: first, because. it is the first new A330-900 to enter service with Italy's leading carrier in as many as 16 months (The last had been, in July 2024, a specimen dedicated to former tennis player Paolo Canè; and then because it is ITA's first A330-900 with Italian (and not Irish) brands, since it is registered 'I-ITYE'.

As for the first name, the plane was dedicated to former cyclist Vincenzo Nibali. Its arrival took so long because of the non-availability of the Rolls Royce Trent 700 engines that all ITA A330-900s mount. Two other aircraft of the same type are ready but still parked at the Airbus plant in Toulouse waiting to be powered.

After the arrival of the 'Vincenzo Nibali, ITA remains waiting for five more A330-900s to complete the order it placed with Airbus in 2022. The first specimen, dedicated to former marathon runner Gelindo Bordin, had been delivered to ITA in late May 2023, when The Flight Club had attended the handover ceremony and had then been on board the flight from Toulouse to Fiumicino. Currently, the other eleven -900s in ITA's fleet are named after Marco Tardelli, Lorenzo Bernardi, Gianmarco Pozzecco, Luca Pancalli, Vincenzo Montella, Antonio Cairoli, Livio Berruti, Stefano Baldini, Arrigo Sacchi and Paolo Canè. All have three-class interiors, with 30 seats in Business Class, 24 in Premium Economy and 237 in Economy.

The arrival of the -900 is linked to the 'departure' of the ex-Alitalia A330-200s that are still in the company's colors, whose cabins (Business, premium Economy and Economy) are now distinctly sub-standard compared to those of the A330-900s and A350-900s operating on long-haul routes.

The twelfth A330-900 was not the only new arrival in ITA's fleet during the week of Nov. 24-28: two days earlier, an A220-300, the 27th A220 taken delivery of by the carrier, also arrived in Rome which now has 12 of the -100 series and 15 of the -300 series (but 10 six 27 are grounded because of the now well-known problems with the Pratt & Whitney PW1500 engines that are laying waste to so many A220s around the world).

The arrival in one week of two new aircraft made ITA Airways' fleet the second youngest in average fleet age (6.6 years) among all European airlines with at least 50 aircraft, behind only low-cost Wizz Air whose aircraft have an average age of 5 years.

• a330-900
• Airbus
• fleet