© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The emblem of the brand new state-owned Italian provider Italia Trasporto Aereo is seen on a airplane with the brand new blue livery at Fiumicino airport earlier than a information convention to current the plane’s new fleet, in Rome, Italy, March 1, 2022. REUTERS/Remo C
ROME (Reuters) – ITA Airways will subsequent 12 months refresh its fleet with 39 new plane, permitting it to serve extra long-distance locations, the state-owned successor to Alitalia stated on Friday.
Lengthy-distance flights are extra worthwhile than brief and medium haul ones, the place ITA and Alitalia ceded market share to low-cost rivals akin to Ryanair and EasyJet.
ITA “has underwritten all of the commitments for rising the fleet in 2023, subsequent 12 months 39 new era plane will enter into service” together with 9 wide-bodied Airbus A330-900, the corporate stated in a press release.
Older plane will discontinue service, ITA stated, stating that the improve will imply a 73% enhance within the ASK (obtainable seat kilometre) metric, measuring passenger carrying capability.
By the tip of 2023, ITA stated it’ll have 96 planes, half of which might be new, together with the single-aisle A321Neo. With the expanded fleet, the airline plans to open new routes from Rome to San Francisco, Washington, Riyadh, Jeddah and Kuwait Metropolis.
ITA was established in late 2020 from the ashes of bankrupt Alitalia, and has but to show a revenue.
Till final month, the Italian authorities was locked in talks over the sale of a majority stake in ITA to U.S. personal fairness fund Certares, backed by Air France-KLM and Delta.
The exclusivity interval with Certares expired on Oct. 31 with no deal. Beforehand, Germany’s Lufthansa and transport group MSC had filed a rival joint bid for the struggling Italian provider.
