Finally, we know where the brand new shiny electric blue ITA Airways Airbus A321neo will be flying. Let’s take a closer look at which destinations it’ll serve and why.
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Where will ITA Airways fly its New Airbus A321neo?
The first Airbus A321neo to be delivered to the new Italian flag carrier, registration number EI-HXA, was supposed to enter service operating flights on the Rome to Tel Aviv route. However, due to the unstable situation in the middle east, the plan changed. For a couple weeks we didn’t really know where the plane would start flying to.
The decision has finally been made. The new Airbus A321neo will fly on the Rome to London Heathrow route (flight number AZ204) daily. In addition during the Christmas holiday season (from December 22nd to January 9th) the aircraft will be also flying 3 times a day to Paris (CDG).
It is quite implausible that the airline will fly the 1 plane on the 4 sectors in the same day. I think ITA might be relying on the fact that another A321neo might soon be joining its fleet to allow this service expansion. If this is the case we should have some news in the coming weeks.
Why So So Many Doubts About The ITA A321 Routes?
The A321neo ITA Airways ordered and received are quite peculiar. They are setup with a 3-class configuration (Business, Premium Economy ed Economy Class). Nothing out of the ordinary so far. What makes this choice peculiar is the fact that this is a configuration common on long range capable A321 planes (LR version), while ITA owns the standard version.
Therefore the airline needed to find routes that would offer a high load factor even for its premium cabin products.
If you’re wondering what the ITA Airways A321neo offers, you can read this other post i wrote when the first aircraft was delivered.
Why Is ITA Airways Flying the A321neo to London and Paris?
As I said above, the airline needed to identify destinations that would assure high load factors also for its premium cabins. Also, these two cities are the destination or starting point for travellers that might connect through Rome Fiumicino. The fact that the plane offers a remarkably similar product to that seen on the new generation of wide body planes creates a certain consistency in terms of hard product, which will be something appreciated by passengers. It’s not particularly common to see a real business class cabin on an intra-European flight.
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