ITA Airways has announced the tickets for its new route to Rio de Janeiro Galeão International Airport (GIG) are now on sale. The transatlantic route is set to start on October 29, 2023. The new Italian flag carrier is only operating a fraction of the routes former Alitalia (AZ) used to serve across Latin America & the Caribbean. Which other routes are still missing?
Alitalia’s former connectivity
The flag carrier Alitalia existed between 1947 and 2021. It was one of the most recognizable airline brands globally. However, it faced lingering financial issues for years before being scrapped by the Italian government and substituted with a new company, ITA Airways.
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In January 2020, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Alitalia operated 39 weekly flights to Latin America and the Caribbean. Departing from Rome’s Fiumicino International Airport (FCO), Alitalia flew to Buenos Aires Ezeiza (EZE), Rio de Janeiro (GIG), São Paulo Guarulhos (GRU), Havana (HAV), Mexico City (MEX), and Santiago de Chile (SCL).
Alitalia’s main route was Rome-Sao Paulo, deploying two daily flights. To Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires, it had daily flights, Santiago six, Mexico three, and Havana two. The Italian flag carrier competed on two routes with other airlines. Aerolíneas Argentinas also flew the Buenos Aires-Rome route and Blue Air to Havana.
What is ITA Airways offering now?
ITA Airways currently has a fleet composed of 73 aircraft, including eight Airbus A330-200s and six Airbus A350-900s, employed for long-haul passenger flights. As of January 2023, ITA Airways operates around 1,866 weekly flights. It serves 20 Italian airports and 26 foreign destinations (a fraction compared to the 21 domestic airports and 49 foreign destinations of Alitalia in January 2020).
The new airline is currently offering 14 weekly flights to Latin America. ITA Airways operates daily flights to Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo, competing against Aerolíneas Argentinas and LATAM Brasil, respectively.
This year, ITA Airways will also launch flights to Rio de Janeiro, but there’s no current information that the airline will resume any other destinations previously offered by Alitalia. In the meantime, Neos has launched flights between Rome and Havana and Aeromexico between Mexico City and Rome.
ITA Airways' new route to Rio de Janeiro
Starting on October 29, 2023, ITA Airways will launch a daily flight between Rome Fiumicino and Rio de Janeiro onboard the airline’s Airbus A330 fleet. The carrier said these new services will strengthen its expansion in South America. Rio de Janeiro and Latin America, overall, have always been a privileged destination for Italian holidays and a strategic market together with the United States for business and cargo traffic, it said. Emiliana Limosani, ITA Airways Chief Commercial Officer, said,
“The opening of the Rio de Janeiro destination is part of the development and growth strategies of our Company's intercontinental offer. Following this expansion strategy, this year we have also added to the already significant offer to/from the United States new direct flights from Rome Fiumicino to Washington, from June to San Francisco, from July.”
Finally, Alexandre Monteiro, president of RIOgaleão, Rio de Janeiro International Airport, said the arrival of ITA Airways is excellent news for Brazilian tourism. Having Italy back on its network will help the sector growth, as it is an important asset for the economy of the city, Monteiro added.
Would you love to see ITA Airways launching more routes across Latin America and the Caribbean? Let us know in the comments below.