New entrant Aeroitalia has announced a mind-boggling 24 new routes from Milan Bergamo Airport next summer. Curiously, the vast majority will compete head-to-head with at least one other much more established airline, typically Ryanair. It raises the inevitable questions about why and how sustainable it is. However, the vast majority of Aeroitalia's routes build on the exit of at least one other airline in the past year or two.
The routes add to Aeroitalia's existing Bergamo network: Bacau, Catania, London Heathrow (rises to 1 daily next summer with a peak 07:45 arrival), and Rome Fiumicino, the latter launched in November. Aeroitalia will base five 737-800s in Bergamo to accommodate the growth.
Eight routes to Greece
Details of the eight are shown below. Italian carrier Neos lists three of them on its website, but none are currently bookable for next summer, and none are scheduled (they were in the summer of 2022). It is unclear if they'll operate. If they don't, it'll add to the exit of Blue Panorama in explaining Aeroitalia's interest.
|
Milan Bergamo to... |
Start date |
Flights |
Competition |
Find flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Corfu |
June 3rd |
2 weekly |
Ryanair (8 weekly) |
|
|
Karpathos |
March 27th |
2 weekly |
Neos (listed on the website yet bookable and unsure if it will be); had Blue Panorama until 2020 |
|
|
Kefalonia |
June 1st |
2 weekly |
Ryanair (5 weekly); had Blue Panorama until 2020 |
|
|
Heraklion |
March 28th |
2 weekly |
Ryanair (3 weekly); Neos (not yet bookable); had Blue Panorama until 2020 |
|
|
Mykonos |
June 4th |
2 weekly |
No direct competition; had Blue Panorama until 2020 |
|
|
Santorini |
June 3rd |
2 weekly |
Ryanair (3 weekly); had Blue Panorama until 2020 |
|
|
Rhodes |
June 3rd |
2 weekly |
Ryanair (5 weekly); Neos (not yet bookable); had Blue Panorama until 2020 |
|
|
Zakynthos |
June 1st |
2 weekly |
Ryanair (2 weekly); AlbaStar (charters); had Blue Panorama until 2020 |
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Six routes across Italy
As with Greece, the exit of carriers seems to explain Aeroitalia's interest, with each route to southern Italy or islands far from where trains would be convenient. They bring to eight its Italian network from Bergamo, two fewer than Ryanair's domestic route network. Notice how many more flights Ryanair typically has, such as 25 weekly to Brindisi against 3 with Aeroitalia.
|
Milan Bergamo to... |
Start date |
Flights |
Comments |
Find flights |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Alghero |
June 15th |
3 weekly |
Ryanair (10 weekly); had AlbaStar until 2022 |
|
|
Brindisi |
March 28th |
3 weekly |
Ryanair (25 weekly); had AlbaStar until 2022 |
|
|
Lamezia Terme |
March 26th |
1 daily |
Ryanair (18 weekly); had AlbaStar until 2020 |
|
|
Lampedusa |
June 15th |
3 weekly |
Volotea (2 weekly) had Blue Panorama until 2021 and AlbaStar until 2022 |
|
|
Olbia |
March 27th |
2 weekly |
easyJet (10 weekly), Volotea (2 weekly); had ITA and AlbaStar until 2022 |
|
|
Reggio Calabria |
June 16th |
2 weekly |
None; unserved from Bergamo since 2011 |
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Ten routes elsewhere
The last of the new routes are summarized below. They include Bergamo-Amsterdam, a route that easyJet launched last September. Before that, it was served by Transavia until 2009. Look at Bucharest; Aeroitalia's once daily will be higher than the ten weekly from Ryanair and Wizz Air until they respond. Bergamo-Bucharest is Ryanair/Wizz territory, but the route had three airlines (Ryanair, Wizz, Blue Air) until 2016. It'll again have a trio.
|
Milan Bergamo to... |
Start date |
Flights |
Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Amsterdam |
Not yet available |
Unknown |
easyJet (2 weekly) |
|
Barcelona |
March 26th |
1 daily |
Ryanair (3 daily); had limited Vueling flights until 2022 |
|
Bucharest |
March 26th |
1 daily |
Ryanair (10 weekly), Wizz Air (10 weekly) |
|
Ibiza |
March 28th |
2 weekly |
Ryanair (16 weekly) |
|
Larnaca |
March 27th |
3 weekly |
None; last served in 2011 |
|
Lublin |
March 27th |
2 weekly |
None; never served from Bergamo; served from Milan until 2018 |
|
Malaga |
March 28th |
3 weekly |
Ryanair (1 daily) |
|
Tel Aviv |
March 26th |
3 weekly |
Ryanair (5 weekly, Arkia (1 weekly) |
|
Tirana |
March 26th |
1 daily |
Wizz Air (2 daily), Albawings (4 weekly) |
|
Valencia |
March 26th |
4 weekly |
Ryanair (12 weekly) |
What do you make of it all? Let us know in the comments.