ITA Airways Fleet – Bringing Italy on the Main Aviation Stage

ITA Airways is the new Italian flag carrier. The airline initially solely government owned, by late 2024 will have a new minority stake holder. In 2023 the Italian government reached an agreement to sell off the carrier to the Lufthansa Group. While waiting for this takeover however, ITA has worked to rebuild a route network which would allow it to become profitable, unlike Alitalia. So far it has reached its goal by primarily replacing older jets with more fuel efficient ones and by expanding its long-range capable fleet.

ITA’s Fleet Supplier Decision – The First And Most Important Decision

ITA Airways’ predecessor, Alitalia, ran a highly inefficient operation. The former Italian flag carrier used a mix of aircraft from various manufacturers, such as:

• Embraer
• Airbus
• Boeing

While the Embraer planes were exclusively short haul focused, both Boeing and Airbus produced planes flew medium and long-haul sectors. This is a highly inefficient practice, particularly for an airline with a fleet not that big in unit numbers and that is looking to optimise costs while retaining the highest operational flexibility.

This is exactly why ITA Airways’ first decision was to choose to operate planes from only one manufacturer. At the end of many discussions ITA opted for an all Airbus fleet.

ITA Airways Fleet – How a Strong Short Haul Feeder Network

The new Italian airline inherited part its fleet from Alitalia. However, not all planes moved on from Alitalia to ITA, many were either scrapped or returned to the leasing companies. Alitalia operated some dated and inefficient planes that were long everdue retirement.

Also, the former Italian flag carrier had just under one hundred planes when operations ceased. Right now, ITA Airways has just reached that landmark with the arrival of the latest planes.

A Modernised and Efficient Medium/Short-Haul ITA Airways Fleet

The vast majority the airline’s fleet is comprised medium or short haul planes. Out of a total of 101, 77 are medium or short-haul aircraft. This ratio is bound to further change as the airline has a number of orders in place for modern wide body long haul planes.

At the moment though this is what the medium/short haul fleet looks like:

• 5 A220-300
• 11 Airbus A319-100
• 25 Airbus A320-200
• 19 A320neo
• 11 A321neo
• 7 Airbus A220-100
• 9 Airbus A220-300

Part of the A321neo fleet, although being a narrow body plane, features cabins optimised for longer range travel. ITA in fact, fitted these planes with a 3-class configuration featuring fully lie-flat beds and premium economy. They are currently used on some European destinations along with flights to the middle east and Africa.

ITA Narrow Body Cabin Configurations.

Long-Haul ITA Airways Fleet – Where The Most Work Has To Be Done

Now the Italian airline has currently twenty-four planes serving its long-haul network. These are:

• 7 Airbus A330-200
• 11 Airbus A330-900
• 6 Airbus A350-900

The A330-200s have been repainted but inside still feature the same cabin interiors they had when they used to fly for Alitalia. If you can, I would avoid flying on these planes. They are the oldest in the ITA Airways fleet and not exactly the most modern and comfortable option for long-haul travel.

The nicest of the airline’s long-haul planes are the A330-900neo. Simply because these are the only planes of the three types the airline operates that was entirely designed from the ground up by ITA Airways. They come with a 3 class cabin configuration and the most modern amenities of the wide body fleet.

It is very likely that ITA Airways will serve a much larger international network in the coming years from its hub in Rome Fiumicino (FCO).

ITA Wide Body Cabin Configurations.