Alitalia re-launches direct flights to India
Alitalia’s main hub is Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, Rome and a secondary is Linate Airport, Milan
Alitalia, the flag-carrier of Italy has restarted direct flights to India after an absence of nine years connecting the capitals to the two countries.
The premium Italian airline started the new direct service between Delhi and Rome to be operated every day for the whole winter season until March 24, 2018. The first flight from Rome took off on October 29, 2017, while the inaugural flight from New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport took off on October 30, 2017. The daily flight service would be operated with a 250- seater Airbus 330 aircraft.
“Alitalia is flying back to India after a nine-year absence with a new direct service between Delhi and Rome operated every day for the whole winter season until March 24, 2018,” the carrier said in a release. The airline’s Chief Commercial Officer, Fabio Lazzerini stated,” India represents a unique opportunity to position ourselves in a country which is already becoming more and more important.”
“From a cultural and tourist point of view also, we have thousands of years of history. This is why we are reinvesting in the country and we are back. We could have been back earlier than this but better late than never,” he added.
The schedule of the new service:
The decision to launch this new service between Delhi and Rome was taken to meet the increasing demand for flights between the two countries. According to the Italian Foreign Ministry and Italian National Statistical Institute, Italy is the second European country, after Great Britain, for arrivals from India. In 2015 over 426,000 travellers from India arrived in Italy, recording a growth of 49.7 pc versus the previous year. Even without the figures, it is a given that Italy is amongst the top European destinations for India, which makes the re-launching of the direct flight a smart business move.
When Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni visited India, it marked the end of the decades-long tensions with Italy. With an exchange of USD 8.79 billion (EUR 7.55 billion) in 2016, Italy is the fifth economic partner of India among the EU countries. Italy and India have business ties across various sectors which include fashion, garments, textile and textile machinery, automotive, automotive components industry, infrastructure, chemicals, energy, confectionery and insurance, thus leading to India housing over 600 Italian companies. Italy also has a large Indian expatriate population.
Alitalia’s direct flight is thus also an important opportunity to further strengthen trade relations between India and Italy.
Ease of travel
Passengers departing from Delhi, upon arrival at Rome Fiumicino airport will benefit from easy connections to 39 cities in Europe including Italy, North Africa and the Americas served by Alitalia. There is also an inclusion of cultural capitals namely Florence, Pisa, Venice, Paris and four US destinations- New York, Boston, Los Angeles and Miami, in addition to Havana and Sao Paulo.
The departure schedule of the flight from Rome is formulated such that passengers can connect to other cities across India-Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur and Bangalore. This was made possible with Alitalia signing special agreements with Jet Airways as well as with other major Indian airlines.
