ITA Airways Launches New Direct Rome-Houston Route for Summer 2026

ITA Airways way of doing business at complete opposites to how Alitalia used to run. The new Italian national carrier is making strides to becoming a major force to be reckoned with in the market of flights to Italy and possibly Europe as a whole. A new long haul route will come in 2026 with maybe more to follow.

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ITA Airways’ Long Haul Ambitions Start With Houston

Earlier this year ITA Airways had released its ambitious 2026-2030 expansion plan. The TLDR version of it was that the airline will need and will expand its operations on long haul services to increase its profitability and overall global dominance as a travel option from and to Italy as well as Europe as a whole.

The plan stated, once more, that the US and North America are the biggest focus areas for the airline. Strong business and tourism interests make of the US above all a market ITA Airways absolutely needs to have a stronger presence in.

The first step in this direction for ITA Airways in its 2030 expansion plan is to open a ninth US destination. 2026 will see ITA fly direct and non-stop to Houston, Texas.

A First Time For ITA Airways Flying to Houston

This will be the absolute first time for ITA Airways flying to Houston, and Texas as a matter of fact. ITA currently serves:

• New York
• Boston
• Miami
• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• Washington D.C.
• Chicago (Seasonal)
• Toronto (Seasonal)

Houston will therefore become the ninth destination the carrier serves in the US. Despite it being a season summer service it will start operating rather early in the season and will shut down well into fall. What I’m getting to is that ITA will be serving the route for quite a big chunk of the year.

First flight is scheduled to cover the Rome Fiumicino to Houston route on May 1st 2026 with the last service scheduled for October 24th 2026.

Flying The Brand New Airbus A330-900 up To 5x Weekly

ITA Airways’ Rome Fiumicino to Houston AZ636 flight will have a variable frequency throughout the 2026 summer season. The Italian airline will operate:

• 3 weekly flights from May 1st to May 31st 2026 – Every Wednesday, Friday Sunday
• 5 weekly flights from June 1st to October 24th 2026 – Every day except Tuesdays and Thursdays

The aircraft of choice will be the A330-900 (part of the A330neo family). The A330-900 is one of two aircraft types ITA operates its long range flights on, with the other being the A350-900. However, the A330-900 is the only long range aircraft ITA fully designed the interiors for. The A350s were picked up as another airline didn’t take delivery of them and the A330-200s still have Alitalia inherited interiors.

These planes come with a 3 class configuration featuring:

• 30 Business Class seats in a 1-2-1 layout
• 24 Premium Economy seats in a 2-3-2 layout
• 237 Economy Class seats in a 2-4-2 layout

As for the timings of the new ITA Airways Rome to Houston flight AZ636:

Where Next Will ITA Airways Fly and Announce?

Now Houston is the first announcement ITA Airways has made in terms of new long haul routes following up on its 2026-2030 expansion plan. I do expect the carrier to bring into the light new routes as we move closer and into 2026. The US and North America remain the key market to tackle, however, the airline also direly needs to expand its presence in Asia where it only serves a handful of destinations. So which will ITA’s next destination to be announced be?