Better known as ITA, Italia Trasporto Aereo, the Italian government’s airline startup, has been working relentlessly to bring back the network its predecessor, ill-fated Alitalia, had.
The announcements of the past week – and for that matter, of the previous weeks too – resembled very much the airline ITA is supposed to replace, as the company signed interline agreements with Air France/KLM, one of Europe’s main airline conglomerates, and Abu Dhabi’s carrier, Etihad Airways.
According to the press release celebrating the partnership with Air France, «ITA Airways will widen its own commercial supply over domestic segments in France and in Northern Europe – Great Britain, Scandinavia, Denmark -, increasing and developing new flows of leisure and business traffic».
The partnership with Air France starts from December 13 and, from ITA’s side, it will include the «AF» code in flights from its Fiumicino hub to Bari, Brindisi, Catania, Genoa, Lamezia, Palermo, Trieste and Venice domestically, and Malta and Tirana internationally.
ITA’s press release also says that, once the American DOT allows, the agreement «will be extended to a wide selection of destinations [in the] USA.»
«Today we have closed an important commercial agreement with Air France, a fundamental partner for the development of our company in France», stated ITA’s Chief Commercial Officer, Emiliana Limosani, in the same press release. «Thanks to this codeshare agreement, we will be able to offer our customers not only the best travel experience, but a richer network, notably increasing our presence in France, a key market that presents big opportunities for ITA Airways», she added.
The biggest surprise, nevertheless, was the partnership with Etihad. The UAE carrier was the head of one of the last attempts of saving Alitalia, in 2014, when it bought 49% of the Italian airline, as one of the key components of its strategy of owning stakes in airlines around the globe.
Ultimately, the partnership failed, with Alitalia entering in Extraordinary Administration in 2017; Etihad had its stake wiped out soon afterwards. However, in many airports around Italy, Alitalia maintained its signaling of «Etihad Airways partner»; the codeshare partnership also went on.
Under this light, the partnership between Etihad and the new airline does not come as a surprise, given ITA’s retention of several management employees from its predecessor and a noticeable preference for restarting most of Alitalia’s partnerships.
The codeshare is effective from December 14; ITA will add its «AZ» code in Etihad’s Italy services, that connect Milano/Malpensa and Rome/Fiumicino to its hub in Abu Dhabi. Etihad’s «EY» code will be added in flights connecting ITA’s Fiumicino hub to Bari, Brindisi, Catania, Genoa and Palermo domestically and Malta internationally.
ITA’s press release also says that «both airlines are working to expand in the coming months the reach of their cooperation, [in order] to offer customers even better travel options.»
While the scope of such cooperation expansion was not disclosed, it is only natural that it will keep its feet on the ground; Etihad’s top-level management in recent years has been adamant in the company’s recovery after the huge losses that were, in part, caused by wrong investment such as Alitalia’s.
But there is commitment from both airlines to leave the past behind. Right after the partnership was announced, Etihad’s booking engine still howed AZ flights as being operated by Alitalia – a mistake that had already been corrected on the day this report went online.
