Ita Airways, with over 90 weekly Rome and Milan flights to London, is keeping a weather eye on the UK market: on the one hand by being at the World Travel Market in London this week and then with a multi-channel advertising campaign that will air in London until 1 December. 

On digital screens in London stations

With the claim Destination: You the new campaign is on digital screens in the city's main railway and underground stations including Waterloo, Bond Street, Euston, King’s Cross, Piccadilly Circus, and the imposing NOW building on Tottenham Court Road. An incisive online banner advertising campaign will also be launched.

Ita Airways’ goal is to be one of Europe’s greenest airlines

At the WTM Ita Airways is in the Italian Pavilion (next to the Piazza Italia area, stand EU 200) to promote its flights for the British market, where the airline operates more than 90 return flights a week between London and its two hubs: Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate. The company's commitment in the field of sustainability will also be at the centre of its activities at the World Travel Market: ITA Airways' goal is in fact to become one of the greenest airlines in Europe by 2026, with 80% of its fleet flying new generation aircraft.

Daily flights to London Heathrow and City Airport

There are two daily connections from Rome and Milan Linate to London Heathrow, for a total of 28 return flights a week from Rome Fiumicino and Milan Linate respectively, and 36 return flights a week from Linate to London City Airport. 

Expanding its long-haul destinations

In the meantime Ita Airways continues to expand its intercontinental network: winter operations include 51 destinations, of which 9 intercontinental, 22 international and 20 domestic. It is also focusing on expanding its long-haul destinations with some important new routes such as New Delhi, Maldives (Malé) and Tokyo-Haneda, in addition to those for New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Miami, Buenos Aires and Sao Paulo that started at the beginning of the year.

Milan’s Malpensa airport is once again close to pre-pandemic levels. A recovery in grand style with 97% of 2019 traffic registered this September.  Which is by no means to be taken for granted considering the fundamental contribution of long-haul traffic, and passenger flows that have lagging behind short and medium haul traffic in the post-Covid restart. 

The recovery is even more impressive if we then add the return of flights from Asia, with both Korean Air, from Seoul, and Cathay Pacific Airways, from Hong Kong, back in Malpensa's skies. Then just a few days ago Eva Air made its debut from Seoul after a two-year delay, and All Nippon Airways is expected next spring.

"Traffic has been returning to normal since the industry restarted, although there are still risks due to the ongoing conflict in Europe," said Armando Brunini, managing director of Sea Aeroporti, which manages Milan’s Linate and Malpensa airports.  “Our airport system recovered fast, posting 97% of pre-pandemic traffic in September.  We now have over 195 destinations, and 75 airlines." And, barring unforeseen external events, Malpensa airport's Terminal 2 could be reopened "for the summer of 2023,” and with some novelties “certainly from a technological point of view.”

Everything seems to point to Malpensa handling 37 million passengers by 2035, a +40% increase over the pre-Covid period, as envisaged by the recent National Airport Plan. But there are still some knots that need to be undone, such as the 'in-house competition' of Linate, Milan's city airport, and the lack of a carrier using Malpensa as its hub.

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist

Eva Air has finally launched the first flight between Italy and Taiwan: the Boeing 777-300ER took off from Milan Malpensa on 27 October for Taipei, over two years later than the airline's original plans, due to the pandemic. There are currently two weekly frequencies with more on the way.

“Italy is now Taiwan's third trading partner in Europe”

"The opening of a new operational base in the European market for the first time in 25 years is a moment of great importance for us, and we are very happy that it will happen in Milan," said Clay Sun, president of Eva Air. "With the launch of the new Milan-Taipei flight, there will be more direct and consolidated contacts and exchanges between Italy and Taiwan in the economic-commercial, cultural, and academic fields. Italy is now Taiwan's third trading partner in Europe, after Germany and the Netherlands, and the world's 18th.”

Developing leisure and business traffic

"With Taipei the portfolio of routes expands, and the country’s connectivity with the rest of the world is improved in terms of number and quality. I hope that the frequencies between Taipei and Milan will soon increase, thanks to the traffic potential and the growth of traffic to and from Asia," said Armando Brunini, CEO of Sea, recalling how “Milan and the Lombardy region combine the right mix of leisure and business useful for developing traffic.”  

Taiwan had up to 11 million visitors annually pre-pandemic

Taiwan reopened its borders to tourists, including groups, on 13 October, ending the Covid-19 legislation's mandatory three-day quarantine period for arriving travellers. Taiwan's Transport Minister Wang Kwo-tsai hopes that by 2024 air travel to Taiwan will have returned to pre-crisis levels. Taiwan had up to 11 million visitors per year prior to the pandemic. Eva Air already has routes to London, Paris, Vienna, and Amsterdam in Europe, and the new Munich route will begin service on 3 November.

Aeroitalia is ready to take off for London Heathrow, launching its network of international flights on 1 December.  With this start of flights to London the airline is accelerating its expansion from Milan’s Bergamo airport with five weekly Boeing B737-800s frequencies on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays, and Sundays.   

Long-haul projects from Milan Bergamo

Aeroitalia's initial network from Milano Bergamo includes three daily flights to and from Rome Fiumicino and, beginning in December, Catania (Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday) and Bacau (two weekly flights on Friday and Sunday).  The airline will have five B737-800s by March 2023 and its growth strategy includes flights to other European hubs besides London from next summer, including Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam. 

Preparing for the winter

The company has inaugurated a new operational base in Trapani from which it will connect four destinations using a 68-seater ATR72-600: Catania and Forlì, which began last summer, and two new routes, Florence and Cagliari, from 1 December. The Catania route will be boosted in January based on user feedback. Perugia will be among the next top five destinations, with Milan Linate and Verona already on the radar.

The emphasis is on airports with good services

“It is a significant opportunity for our airline, and the hope is to develop new synergies to improve the passenger experience,” said CEO Gaetano Intrieri. “We choose 'best in class' airports for our passengers,” said chief commercial officer Krassimir Tanev, “and Trapani was chosen because it has excellent passenger services and ease of entry and exit from the airport.”

Ita Airways Connect, the Italian airline’s booking portal, is proving popular and at the start of the 2022-23 winter season Ita Airways has a network of 62 destinations - of which 9 intercontinental (seven from Rome Fiumicino and one from Milan Malpensa) and 26 international (17 from Rome and nine from Milan Linate), -  Emiliana Limosani, ITA’s chief commercial officer, takes stock of the airline’s impact on the market. 

"We are very satisfied with the results of Ita Airways Connect which has reached more than 8,000 subscribers globally. This booking portal, which we recently added to our English-language site, has been very well received by the international community. and is growing. It allows us to guarantee a constant update on all Ita’s news. The archive is easy to consult and is connected to a marketing cloud through which we can develop a personalized rapport with individual subscribers.”

“The portal gives access to a booking engine for purchases by non-Ita agencies and enables access to quotation and group definition tools. We have recently updated the branding of the site, which now sports a stunning Ita Airways look and feel. We plan to complement Ita Airways Connect with more initiatives for the trade, such as those offered in recent months like the dedicated fares for personal travel by agency staff ."

This winter we are focusing strongly on long-haul and have some really important news. From 5 November, the new flight from Rome Fiumicino to Tokyo Haneda will be operative with our flagship Airbus A350 three days weekly. And the new flight from Rome Fiumicino to New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport will take off on 3 December. These new flights will be operated with Airbus A330s, with three weekly frequencies on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.”

“Despite the heavy increase in fuel costs and the difficult first six months due to the Covid Omicron wave, in June we posted improved accounts and a profit.  This result is all the more remarkable as we are a startup and, being our first year, we are laying the foundations for future development, including the completion of the fleet to ensure the growth in capacity necessary to offer the market complete and satisfying travel solutions.”

Dozens, perhaps hundreds of people gathered along the fence that marks the boundary of the airport and has a great view of the runway. It happened a few days ago in Foggia, in the northernmost part of Puglia, gateway to the Gargano and its wonderful coast when, after a good eleven years, the airport reopened to civil flights. These onlookers were not just professional photographers, plane spotters or aircraft enthusiasts. They were ordinary citizens of all ages who were there to witness an event that it is no exaggeration to call historic: the first take-off from the runway that had been unused for too long. 

"Two kilometres of road leads nowhere, two kilometres of runway leads everywhere in the world.” And in that moment we realized it was true. Growing up in a part of the world and at a time when going to the airport is like going to the station to hop on a train, we almost forgot the value, the deep meaning and the opportunities that an airport offers to a region. Even more so when that region is often identified as crude and complex. This new connection with the world is “a total redemption for Foggia and the surrounding area,” says Antonio Maria Vasile, president of Aeroporti di Puglia (the airport's management company, Ed.). 

An area that goes from the green of the Dauni mountains along the region's border with Campania and Molise, to the sunbaked Gargano, star of the last Venice Film Festival with Ti mangio il cuore (I eat your heart) inspired by the novel by Apulian writer Giuliano Foschini. The recovery of the airport, which in Aeroporti di Puglia's intentions will be “self-sustainable energetically and a civil defense base” has already become a best practice, an example for others and not just in Italy. Today the Gino Lisa Airport is connected by Lumiwings to Milan Malpensa. Routes to Turin, Catania and Verona will follow. It’s a start. Tomorrow, who knows? 

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist

Trenitalia. Best of the pick for tourists. From Europe to North America, and with more than a nod from Asia, summer international bookings  were up 30% on 2019.

Everyone loves trains. Not just foreign visitors, because Italians too are increasingly choosing rail travel for their holidays, and after two and a half pandemic years they are doing it more than ever. Italy has an extensive rail network, and the high-speed trains are its spearhead says Pietro Diamantini, Trenitalia's high-speed business director.

How has the market changed in the last two years and what does the future hold?

“In the post-pandemic era travel has changed a lot. The leisure segment is prevalent within our target clientele and has prompted us to design an increasingly competitive and sustainable form of travel compared to private and other modes of transport. Things have evolved taking on board the demand, and they will continue to evolve into the next tourist season. Our tailor-made travel solutions will favour north-south travel, with more connections, more speed, and more stops in destinations with strong tourist vocations. In recent years, jumping on the bandwagon of this evolution we extended the Frecciarossa connections beyond the Turin-Salerno high-speed axis, and added more trains on the Adriatic and Rome-Venice lines. And this is also true for Calabria, for example with the Frecciarossa night trains. We are doing out utmost to offer solutions that will encourage people to travel for tourism even outside the traditional season."

What are the results of the introduction of high-speed on the Paris-Milan line?

"Both the Italian and French markets have shown a lot of interest right from its launch and, to our great satisfaction, the load factor has often topped 90%. The Frecciarossa travel experience with all the features that are so popular in Italy, has really surprised international customers who were not familiar with our levels of service. We achieved excellent sales results through our direct channels, but also thanks to our travel agent and railway company partners."

How is the concept of intermodality evolving to reach those tourist locations that are not so efficiently served by traditional connections?

"In recent years we have worked a lot in this direction: with Freccialink buses, we are extending the comfort and quality of the high-speed Frecce to wonderful tourist spots like Matera, Perugia, Assisi and also with seasonal services to Madonna di Campiglio, Cortina d'Ampezzo, Val Gardena, Val di Fassa, Sorrento and Pompei. For the coming season we are adding increasingly competitive solutions to encourage people to choose Trenitalia and leave their cars at home. To add to the customer experience we are working with important partners, and we have synergies with ports and airports. In addition, we are boosting the direct Frecciarossa connections between Florence, Naples and the Rome Fiumicino hub. This means offering additional ways to get to Rome’s international airport with Frecciarossa trains, and to continue on to multiple destinations.  Then there are the integrated connections with the shipping companies Snav and Alilauro to ports on the islands in the Gulf of Naples and the Aeolian Islands. And some solutions include the bus services from Naples Centrale station to the Molo Beverello jetty.”

Which foreign markets are you concentrating on?  

“Well, our distribution channels abroad are performing very well this year so we estimate that 2022 may even surpass 2019. Europe is still our main foreign market and it is growing very fast this year, even compared to pre-pandemic levels. The North American market, which remains an important reference point for us, is also recovering fast, and we are starting to get positive signals from South America and Asia, especially South Korea and Japan. Collaboration with our international partners for the recovery and development of these markets is strategic.”

What is happening with regard to the international trade?

"We are offering them all our product and service innovations. From now to the end of the year we will have a series of meetings to further develop business with our international network, and we are in the process of launching interesting innovations aimed at further growth, like new aggregators and GDS platforms. We are present at the main international trade events, also attracting interest from operators in new markets. We can proudly say that the Frecciarossa service model is now known and appreciated in many countries around the world.”

Globally, what is the value of the agency distribution channel?

"Travel agencies are a privileged interface for Trenitalia. They know the customers’ needs inside out and they come up with the best solutions. The distribution channel is fundamental for our global outreach, with the dual aim of increasing sales and consolidating our brand's distribution network. We also believe it is important to keep an eye on how to simplify the purchasing processes, and to offer a customer experience that lives up to expectations, while also taking fully into account the needs of a young and constantly evolving market."

A positive summer 2022. With a boom of foreign tourists beyond pre-pandemic levels

The summer season that has just ended was clearly a positive one: "More than 80 million passengers travelled on our trains," says Pietro Diamantini. On the high-speed Frecce network around 7% of tickets were sold through summer promotions. In addition, the free kids offer led to numbers up to six times higher than in 2019.  Other offers for leisure traffic were also on the rise: you&me, groups and insieme doubled sales in August compared to 2019." There are also "strong signs of recovery" from "international tourism: summer bookings exceeded by 30% the levels of 2019, the year with the best results ever. This is an important market segment and we are keeping a watchful eye on it.”  

Rome and Florence

The most popular art cities in the summer of 2022, with arrivals and departures in line with 2019

+80% Growth for arrivals and departures in Calabria compared to 2019

+20% Increase to Bolzano in the summer of 2022 compared to 2019

Korean Air’s Rome-Seoul returns with three weekly flights, as the Korean airline resumes direct connections between Fiumicino Airport and Seoul. 

Three weekly B777-200 flights

The route is served by a Boeing 777-200 with a new configuration of 36 seats in Business Class and 225 in Economy. Initially, the frequency will be three weekly flights, operated on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Flying to Italy for over 30 years 

"From today we reconnect Rome and Seoul with the Boeing 777-200s, a 5-star service and with excellent safety levels - said Lee Ki Wook, general manager of Korean Air. - Last year was the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Rome flight. I am convinced that the resumption of flights will be an important stimulus for the future."

“Fiumicino is the most popular airport in Europe”

"The intensification of direct connections with Seoul - underlined Ivan Bassato, chief aviation officer of Aeroporti di Roma - reaffirms the importance of the Korean market. Hoping to see a full recovery soon, we are proud that Korean Air has chosen to make Fiumicino Airport part of its reconstructed international network. It is also an indication of our attractiveness, not least for the excellence and quality of the services we offer that make Fiumicino the most popular airport in Europe."

A new user-friendly website

The return to Rome confirms the company's dedication to the European market, especially to Italy, and to the strong commercial and tourist relationship between the two nations. Korean Air’s new website in Italian is now online with a new look and functions that make it more user-friendly and intuitive.

From an ocean crossing on a luxury liner, to the Concorde’s supersonic flights, to the present day, where travel looks to superfast trains and planes with some quite incredible facilities. Yet nothing seems to be enough anymore, and if a limit is made to be surpassed, then the future of travel is ready to leave this planet Earth of ours and explore space.

What might have been a good plot for a movie just a few years ago is now a reality, and the travel industry knows it. So much so that at the next WTM in London (7-9 November 2022), the former president of Virgin Galactic and current chairman of UKspace (the British space industry trade association) Will Whitehorn, will give a keynote address on the potential of space tourism. 

Space: the final frontier of travel? will put the spotlight on a sector worth an estimated $4 billion by 2030. The focus will certainly be the feasibility of this - albeit extremely elitist - type of travel, considering that the travel industry has for decades been committed to reconciling development and environmental sustainability today, more than ever, exacerbated by the climate emergency. 

From Richard Branson to Jeff Bezos via Elon Musk who, with his SpaceX, launched the first space expedition composed entirely of private citizens, we have no shortage of pioneers. But there is a price to pay and it is not only economic, as the environmental impact of a flight into space is enormous. Even the recent Global Space Tourism Market Report 2022: Expansion of Sector Bodes Well for General Space and Technology Research admits it. Of course some space companies do not use black carbon but liquid hydrogen fuels. Other research indicates that the carbon dioxide emissions of a space flight carrying four passengers are 50 to 100 times greater than the estimated two tonnes per passenger of a traditional long-haul flight. Are we ready to run the risk? 

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist