ITA Airways’ Airbus A321neo are among the most interesting planes currently used for intra-European flights. So, let’s find out where they fly so that you can increase your odds of flying on them with the right flight number.
In this post:
- The details of the A321neo fleet
- Why the A321LR is a perfect fit for ITA Airways operations
- Where Does ITA Fly its A321neo Planes Most Frequently?
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How Many New Airbus A321neo Does ITA Airways Currently Own?
Currently, ITA Airways has seven A321neo in its fleet, and they are all in the LR version, which means that they are capable of long-range operations. They are not, however, the XLR version, which has the additional removable center fuel tank. Here is the list of the registration numbers for these aircraft:
- EI-HXA
- EI-HXB
- EI-HXC
- EI-HXD
- EI-HXE
- EI-HXF
- EI-HXG
Why the A321LR is a perfect fit for ITA Airways operations
The A321neo is the perfect solution for two specific types of flights the airline wants to operate:
- High value intra-European flights. These are the London, Paris, Amsterdam, or Madrid flights. Services that might see passengers travel too after having transited through Rome Fiumicino Airport. In this case passengers will have a consistent hard product experience onboard their flight transiting from a wide to a narrow body aircraft.
- Medium-haul flights (on the edge of long-haul), where it might be tough for ITA to fill one of their wide-body planes for a variety of reasons.
You might have caught on that all ITA Airbus A321neo registration numbers start with EI-HX.
ITA Airways has gone in the direction of fitting a three-class configuration to its A321neo fleet featuring:
- 12 Business Class flat-bed seats
- 12 Premium Economy seats
- 141 Economy Class seats
Where Does ITA Fly its A321neo Planes Most Frequently?
| Destination (from Rome FCO) | Outbound Flight No. | Inbound Flight No. | Category |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accra (ACC) | AZ852 | AZ853 | Primary |
| Dakar (DSS) | AZ854 | AZ855 | Primary |
| Dubai (DXB) | AZ856 | AZ857 | Primary |
| Riyadh (RUH) | AZ838 | AZ839 | Primary |
| Kuwait City (KWI) | AZ860 | AZ861 | Primary |
| Jeddah (JED) | AZ824 | AZ825 | Primary |
| London (LHR) | AZ204 / AZ210 | AZ207 / AZ211 | Secondary |
| Tel Aviv (TLV) | AZ806 / AZ810 | AZ807 / AZ811 | Secondary |
| Cairo (CAI) | AZ894 / AZ896 | AZ895 / AZ897 | Secondary |
| Paris (CDG) | AZ318 / AZ324 | AZ319 / AZ325 | Operational |
| Madrid (MAD) | AZ60 / AZ64 | AZ61 / AZ65 | Operational |
| Amsterdam (AMS) | AZ108 / AZ110 | AZ109 / AZ111 | Operational |
| Barcelona (BCN) | AZ74 | AZ77 | Operational |
The Italian airline occasionally uses the planes to fill operational fleet gaps on domestic routes, but these are outliers not the norm.
Therefore, I’ve only included destinations where you are most likely to fly the A321neo as primary and secondary.
It’s likely that the shorter routes will gradually disappear from ITA’s A321neo rotations. Particularly if the carrier continues to expand its medium to long-haul route network as it has been doing recently.