ITA Airways, Italy’s new flag carrier, has placed an order for 28 Airbus aircraft. This follows a memorandum of understanding announced at the end of September 2021.
Continuing with an all-Airbus fleet
ITA Airways, in September 2021, had announced that it planned to acquire a host of new Airbus aircraft for its fleet renewal. That plan has now solidified as the airline has placed an order for 28 Airbus aircraft.
Specifically, ITA has placed an order for 7 Airbus A220s, 11 A320neos and 10 A330neos. The airline clearly plans to remain all-Airbus, with a fleet than spans from regional jets A220s up to the widebody A330neos. These new aircraft will complement the airline’s existing fleet of 52 Airbus aircraft, all inherited from its predecessor Alitalia. ITA Airways also states that it will lease Airbus A350s to complement its fleet.
Alfredo Altavilla, Executive President, ITA Airways, said:
Today the strategic partnership with Airbus takes an important step forward with the finalisation of the order we announced last September. In addition to this agreement, possibilities for further collaboration have emerged, in particular regarding technological developments in the aviation sector and digitalisation, where Airbus is the market leader. All this is part of the actions to achieve our environmental sustainability objectives.
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ITA Airways says that ‘these new Airbus aircraft will expand the initial ITA Airways fleet with a new generation aircraft with better environmental performance, equipped with latest technologies and state-of-the-art cabins to guarantee maximum operational efficiencies for the airline and the best comfort to travelers’.
Christian Scherer, Chief Commercial Officer of Airbus and Head of Airbus International, said:
We are very proud to partner with ITA Airways in building its long-term future with the most efficient, latest technology Airbus aircraft. This agreement supports ITA Airways business objectives to develop its network in Europe and internationally in the most sustainable way.
ITA Airways presently operates 18 A319s, 27 A320ceos and 7 A330s. While the airline has made noises about fleet renewal in the past, the release from ITA Airways as aforementioned states that, ‘these new Airbus aircraft will expand the initial ITA Airways fleet with a new generation aircraft with better environmental performance’. This suggests that this purchase is more about fleet building at present than it is about replacing old with new.
No details have yet been disclosed about when will these aircraft start getting delivered to ITA Airways.
Recently, Indigo Partners placed order for 255 Airbus A321neo family aircraft.
Featured image by Airbus
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