Aeroitalia is one of the latest startup airlines launched in the post-pandemic period, having commenced operations during the summer of 2022. With its headquarters in Rome, the carrier operates commercial and charter flights from its Italian bases, including Milan Bergamo, Olbia, Forlì and Firenze airports.

The airline constantly diversified its offering over its first year of operations, on one hand directly competing with the low-cost market leader Ryanair on its domestic and international flights, and on the other hand flying niche routes from secondary airports such as Trapani and Forlì.

Network plans for summer 2023

The airline plans to fly from its Italian bases to both leisure routes (such as Mykonos, Malta, Heraklion and Zante) and domestic flights (including Forlì, Florence, Milan, Olbia and Rome). Besides, Aeroitalia recently managed to be allocated the territorial continuity flights from and to Olbia in Sardinia, formerly operated by ITA Airways and Volotea. In particular, in the case of the flights to Milan Linate, the carrier will be compensated by the Italian government, under the regulations of the Sardinia continuity services.

Aeroitalia’s B737s parked in Orio al Serio airport

Current fleet

In early 2023, the airline’s fleet consists of 4 ageing Boeing 737-800 and 1 ATR 72-600 (the latter operated by Air Connect). The B737s feature an average age of 21 years (3 of them were previously run by Blue Panorama Airlines), and are equipped with 189 economy class seats, laid out in the standard 3-3 configuration.

In contrast, the turboprop ATR 72 is mainly used for regional routes and it is equipped with 68 seats arranged in the standard 2-2 configuration.

Boeing 737-800 interior

Flights cancellations and routes disruptions

Aeroitalia’s network plans experienced considerable variations, with several routes either closed after a couple of months of service or even before being ever operated, due to the low load factor and booking recorded. The list of destinations being cancelled is quite extensive and diversified in terms of market coverage, and it includes for instance the termination of flights from Milan Bergamo to London Heathrow and Bacau. In particular, these two cities are unlikely to be served by a small airline, since London is both a tourist and business destination, while Bacau is mainly an ethnic route.

Furthermore, the choice of flying from Milan Bergamo, which is Ryanair’s largest base (with over 20 aircraft based), made Aeroitalia’s expansion plans to be massively reduced, due to the lack of brand awareness and small fleet size. Passengers originally booked on Aeroitalia’s flights were offered a promotional fare from Ryanair, which underlined its reliability and network wideness. Aeroitalia’s management tried to use this event to underline its Italian brand identity by launching the advertisement stating: “Some people fly Irish, others fly with Italian airlines”.

Nevertheless, it is worth underlining that Aeroitalia’s aircraft are registered in Malta and the company’s shareholders are not Italian, which leads to the fact that only the employees and the management are Italian, just like Ryanair’s crews and aircraft based in multiple Italian airports.

The unlikely Trapani-Catania route

On the 4th of November 2022, Aeroitalia launched the direct flight between Trapani and Catania, marking a milestone for the island of Sicily, becoming the only Italian region with an internal flight between two of its airports. The carrier operated a wet-leased ATR 72-600 by the Romanian airline Air Connect (founded in 2021 and featuring just a single aircraft in its fleet).

Despite the excitement of the Sicilian community for the 50-minute flight, which should have played a key factor in the improvement of the island mobility (the road ride between the two cities takes roughly 4 hours), the Trapani-Catania route lasted just over 2 months, with the last flight operated on the 9th of January 2023. In particular, the airline did not manage to reach the targeted load factors and was forced to close the route due to the low-traffic demand.

Air Connect ATR 72-600

Will Aeroitalia succeed?

After several Italian airlines ceasing operations over the last years and eventually filing for bankruptcy, Italian aviation analysts closely observe Aeroitalia’s business plan, to understand if their management’s strategy will enable them to record positive economic results. The list of carriers that have recently gone out of business, includes Ego Airways (whose operations lasted roughly 1 year), Blue Panorama Airlines (ceased operations in October 2021) and Air Italy (ceased operations in February 2020, before the Covid crisis).

According to the industry forecasts, in 2023, the Italian air transport system will likely overcome the pre-Covid 19 passenger numbers, it will be intriguing to see if Aeroitalia will contribute to the traffic growth.