ITA Airways recently launched New Delhi to Rome Fiumicino direct service. The new connection marks a step forward in the expansion of the carrier’s network towards the Asian market, while confirming its commitment to attracting connecting customers.
Addressing a press meet in Italian embassy in New Delhi on the launch, Vincenzo De Luca, Ambassador of Italy to India, said:” We have worked very hard in the past few months to reopen, resume the daily flights. We will be the first flight to Rome daily. We see the importance of this direct flight as there is all the potential in India to great success for India, for Italy, for ITA, and for other carriers.”
The Ambassador further added that the embassy delivered 130,000 visa to Indian citizen a year before Covid and also 130,000 visa from Italy to India. “Now, we are more or less about 60% of that volume, and this number will increase further with the resumption of traffic,” he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Emiliana Limosani, Chief Commercial Officer, ITA Airways, said: “With the opening of this new route for the transport of passengers and cargo between Italy and India, ITA Airways is further contributing to the cultural integration and development of the economic relationship between the two countries, which have developed a solid political and commercial collaboration in recent years, with the presence of more than 600 Italian companies in India and a bilateral interchange that in 2021 reached a record value of more than 10 billion euros,” Limosani said.
Responding to a question, Pierfrancesco Carino, Vice President – International Sales, ITA Airways: “Now we want to really promote this flight that is of course a daily Rome as a point to point. So, serving all the clients that want to go to Rome as a final destination. But since in Rome we have our hub, so they can reach 51 destinations. It’s a work that we are doing with all the travel agencies and also with the marketing campaign in order to really aware everyone. It’s not just the Rome, but it’s Italy first, with the 20 destinations, then all the Mediterranean area. So, it’s a really good opportunity because also geographically Rome it’s well located and then the Intercontinental,” he said and added that the airline study all the flow of the Indian community all over the world. “We really target especially the connection in Italy, north of Italy, Center South, then Spain, UK, France, in Europe and then of course northern North Atlantic routes. Our aim is really to have highest load factor, so at least more than 80% in order really to reach all the segments, leisure, business and also friends and relative visits segments in order really to optimize of course our seat factor,” he added.
ITA Airways’ Indian operations will be enhanced by flights operated in interline agreement with Vistara. Thanks to the collaboration with the Indian full-service airline, customers on ITA Airways’ Rome – New Delhi flight will be able to fly on connecting domestic and international flights from Vistara’s hub at Indira Gandhi International Airport. These include Mumbai, Amritsar, Kolkata, Bangalore, Kochi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Chandigarh and Dabolim in the Indian market and Bangkok, Kathmandu and Dhaka at international level.
To support the new intercontinental flight from New Delhi to Rome and to enhance local awareness of the new Italian flagship carrier, ITA Airways has launched a multi-channel advertising campaign in India, which highlights the New Delhi-Rome connection as well as the beauty of Italy and its most iconic destinations.
ITA Airways continues to expand its intercontinental network: in the winter season, the company will serve a total of 51 destinations, of which 9 are intercontinental, 22 are international and 20 are domestic and will focus primarily on its long-haul expansion project with several important new routes including, in addition to New-Delhi, the recently launched Tokyo-Haneda and the Maldives (Malé) which will be opened on December 17. All these new intercontinental routes are joining flights to New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Buenos Aires and São Paulo opened earlier this year.
In addition, and as recently announced, in 2023 the company is also expected to open additional new intercontinental destinations with direct flights operated from Rome Fiumicino to San Francisco and Washington in the United States, to Rio de Janeiro in South America and, with the entry in fleet of the new A321Neo aircraft, to destinations in the Middle East, such as Riyadh, Jeddah and Kuwait City.
