Alitalia’s successor ITA Airways is to launch flights from Milan Linate (LIN) to three European destinations after signing a wet-lease agreement with German Airways.
From March 28, the Italian carrier intends to begin serving Geneva (GVA), London City (LCY) and Luxembourg (LUX) using two Embraer E190 jets. The airline said the size of the wet-leased aircraft would enable it to operate the three routes profitably.
Flights to LCY will be 18X-weekly, while GVA and LUX will each receive 12 services per week. OAG data shows that Geneva and Luxembourg are currently unserved from Linate.
“These are airports and destinations where profitability and operating conditions are guaranteed by smaller aircrafts, which fully explains the choice for the German carrier’s Embraer E190, an aircraft not currently available in the ITA Airways fleet,” a statement from ITA said.
ITA currently operates a fleet of 52 aircraft, comprising 17 Airbus A319s, 30 A320s and five A330-200s. In December, the airline confirmed an order for seven A220s, 11 A320neos and 10 A330-900neos.
The SkyTeam alliance member said it expects to begin operating the three new business-orientated routes using its own metal once the A220s on order join its fleet.
Alongside the network growth in Europe, ITA has been authorized by Argentina’s National Civil Aviation Administration (ANAC) to operate regular international passenger and cargo flights between Rome Fiumicino (FCO) and Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE).
Alitalia and Aerolineas Argentina previously served the route daily before the pandemic and each offered limited scheduled service during 2020. However, the city pair has been without nonstop passenger flights since January 2021.
The latest schedules provided by OAG shows that Aerolineas Argentina intends to resume EZE-FCO flights on May 2, operating 3X-weekly using A330s. ITA is yet to confirm its schedule between the destinations.
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