There wasn’t a party, nor a press event. Instead, ITA Airways’ first birthday and the entry into service of its maiden Airbus A220-300 went by almost unnoticed. Priority for those in charge of the carrier – which was born smaller and leaner from the ashes of former Italian flag carrier and one-time Berlusconi-backed boondoggle, Alitalia – has been to ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself.
The A220 is – alongside the A350-900 – the newest kid on the block among the all-Airbus fleet largely inherited from Alitalia. Indeed, while ITA is set to accept A320neo Family jets and A330-900s over the next three years, these aircraft are second-generation examples of airliners already flown by the carrier, while the A220 and A350 are absolute beginners.
Six of the latter type, which are configured with a two-class, 334-seat cabin, had already been pressed into service as of the end of November on routes connecting ITA Airways’ Rome Fiumicino hub to New York/JFK, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires and Tokyo/Haneda. The first A220 debuted on October 16 with a rotation from Fiumicino to Genoa, followed by a connection to Geneva. According to the carrier’s winter 2022-23 timetable, the type will fly also to Milan/Linate, Turin, Naples,…
