Italy’s new national carrier ITA Airways made its inaugural flight Friday, October 15, 2021, unveiling its new name and logo as the new state-owned flag carrier of Italy. The night before, Italy’s former national airline Alitalia, which had gone bankrupt, made its last flights after 74 years in business.
ITA, or Italy Air Transport, will fly with a new blue livery, the color of the Azzurri, Italy's national sports teams, who wear blue when competing. The livery is meant to be a “symbol of unity, cohesion and pride of the country,” states the press release. Against the blue background will be ITA Airways’ white, red and golden logo and stylized icons inspired by Italy’s art heritage. The tail and the engines will be painted with the green, red and white tricolore stripes of the Italian flag.
ITA Airways’s first flight departed on October 15 at 6:20 am from Milano Linate headed for Bari in southern Italy. The new airline will focus its business on the Rome Fiumicino hub and on Milan Linate airport, where it aims to position itself as the leading airline for business and leisure traffic.
ITA Airways starts with a network of 44 destinations and 191 flights in total (24 national and 56 international), with the goal to fly to 74 destinations by 2025.
With 54 aircrafts to start, the company says its focus will be sustainability, planning to have 75% of its fleet as new-generation Airbuses, therefore more efficient and with a lower environmental impact by 2025. On its first 10 flights, it will test sustainable fuels produced by Eni, the Italian oil and gas company.
ITA, which has acquired the brand Alitalia, will only keep some 2,800 of 10,000 of Alitalia’s employees, causing protests and strikes.
ITA Airways has a new frequent flier program, called “Volare” (“Fly”).
As CNN reports, ITA will be focusing on the North American market, which is the one looking stronger post-pandemic. Rome to New York flights start November 4.
ITA Airways’ website is https://www.itaspa.com/en_en/homepage.html.
