The Dolce Vita Train, the new Arsenale project in collaboration with Trenitalia, follows in the footsteps of other similar historic trains like the famous Orient Express and will offer travel in luxury train carriages to well-known tourist areas and other lesser-known parts of Italy. The new CEO of Arsenale Express, the division in charge of the Dolce Vita project, is Jean-Marie Moreau.

30 years with the historical Orient Express trains

For over 30 years in charge of the development, maintenance and operation of the Belmond fleet of  seven trains in Europe, Asia and South America, Moreau previously oversaw the Venice Simplon Orient-Express train division. “It is a great honour for me to join Arsenale. This project will revolutionize rail tourism. My dream has always been to create a train in the most beautiful country in the world. Now I have this opportunity and my energies are dedicated to this mission.”

22 luxury Trenitalia carriages, cutting-edge design and great art

The Dolce Vita Train is due to start in February 2023 and the project has taken an important step forward with the first seven carriages (there will be 22 in total) entering the production and work consortium plant in Brindisi.  The management of the revamping and restyling of the carriages is entrusted to the Ma Group, and the carriages are Trenitalia's Z1, 1st and 2nd class rolling stock, some of the most comfortable used for Intercity trains since the mid-1980s. The furnishings of the cars will be inspired by leading names in Italian design such as Carlo Scarpa, Gio Ponti, Osvaldo Borsani, Piero Fornasetti and Ignazio Gardella, and they will have works by great artists including Lucio Fontana and Alberto Burri.

La Compagnie, the 100% Business Class French airline, is to launch a new route between New York Newark and Milan Malpensa at the end of March 2022. Founded in 2014 the carrier is now ready for its debut in Italy, albeit a few months later than planned as the initial project was to start Italian flights at the end of November 2021.

Five weekly Airbus A321neo all-business flights

A new Airbus A321neo, with 76 passengers in business class beds, will be deployed on the route five days a week. Departures from New York will be every day except Tuesdays and Wednesdays at 21.50, arriving the next day at 12.15 Return flights from Milan will very day except Wednesdays and Thursdays at 13.35, landing at 17.10. On the Malpensa-Newark route the airline will be competing directly with United Airlines and, indirectly, with Ita, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Emirates, which of all operate on New York’s JFK airport.

Smart business services for demanding passengers

La Compagnie also operates transatlantic scheduled flights between New York (Newark International Newark) and Paris (Paris Orly Airport) as well as a seasonal service between New York (Newark International Airport) and Nice (Nice Côte d'Azur International Airport), as well as flights to Tel Aviv (Ben Gurion Airport). The Airbus A321neo fleet guarantees quality services, including a state-of-the-art entertainment system, unlimited Wi-Fi service and unique dining experiences featuring menus by celebrity New York and Parisian chefs.

Rome and Milan Bergamo are the only two Italian destinations of fledgling Norwegian airline Flyr. Following the launch of the first direct international flights from Oslo to Nice, Alicante and Malaga, Flyr announced the expansion of its network with four new destinations. In addition to the Eternal City and Bergamo, they will now fly to Copenhagen and Paris. Flights from Oslo-Gardermoen to Rome will start next Octber 15, while those to Milan Bergamo will be available from January, 5 2022 (twice a week).

Passengers can reserve a free central seat at the front of the cabin

Tickets for Rome and Milan Bergamo are already on sale on flyr.com and in the Flyr app.  Passengers who want a little more space on board, or who want to make sure no one is using the seat next to them, can make a self-service reservation with a free central seat at the front of the cabin. 

New destinations in Italy and Europe on the way

Flyr is a start-up that saw the light in 2021 in a particularly complex market context for air transport, and is the brainchild of "enthusiastic pilots with extensive experience in airlines such as SAS, Norwegian, Widerøe and Braathens." Now we just have to sit back and wait for the future expansion of destinations in Italy and Europe. 

The Emirates Airbus A380 will return to Italy from next 31 October, when it will once again operate between Milan and New York. Then, in October and November, the Dubai airline’s most iconic airliner will be progressively deployed to other destinations, increasing the number of cities served by the A380 to 27, a 65% increase over the current 16.

Flying back to popular business and leisure destinations 

Over the next six weeks Emirates will add exclusive A380 services to popular tourist and business destinations such as Amsterdam, Barcelona, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, Johannesburg, Madrid, Milan, Riyadh (subject to government approval), San Paolo and Zurich.  And from 1 October it will add Istanbul to its A380 network, the first Airbus A380 service to Turkey.

Jet2.com will be heading to sunny Sicily and Sardinia next summer when it adds two new Italian destinations: Catania and Olbia. This will bring the cities served in Italy to seven: Catania, Olbia, Naples, Pisa, Rome, Venice and Verona.

Flights from five UK airports

The airline will operate routes to Sicily from five UK bases: Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and London Stansted. Sardinia flights are planned from four British hubs: Birmingham, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and London Stansted. "These two beautiful Italian islands offer everything tourists could want, from culture to sun and history to lifestyle, and we offer a fantastic choice of flights, resorts and hotels,” said Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays.

Seasonal services from May to October

The 2022 summer schedule includes seasonal connections from May to the end of October to Catania from Birmingham, Bristol, Leeds Bradford, Manchester and London Stansted and to Olbia from Birmingham, Leeds Bradford and Manchester. 

Wizz Air is expanding its network from Turin with new flights to Skopje, North Macedonia. Operating twice weekly (Tuesdays and Saturdays) from 18 December 2021 tickets are on sale from €19.99. This winter Wizz Air will operate flights to 12 destinations from Turin Airport with, in addition to Skopje, services to Bacau, Bari, Bucharest, Catania, Chisinau, Iasi, Naples, Palermo, Tirana and to two ski routes: St. Petersburg and Warsaw. 

Andrea Andorno, Managing Director Turin Airport commented: "We are pleased with the start of the new Turin-Skopje flight announced today by Wizz Air. With these new flights – a first for Turin -  Wizz Air is further expanding its international network and connecting for the first time with Macedonia.  Over the past two years Wizz Air has gone from the two flights of summer 2019 to 12 flights this winter: an important signal regarding growth prospects for our airport in the coming months.” 

Portugal fares starting from €24.99 

Wizz Air’s new Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino flights to Lanzarote start at €24.99. 

“We are pleased to announce these two new routes from Italy,” said Andras Rado, Senior Communications Manager Wizz Air. “We believe these new flights will strengthen cultural and economic links between Italy and Spain,  while offering passengers even more affordable air travel.”

Ensuring the health of passengers and crew

Wizz Air has introduced a series of advanced hygienic measures to ensure the health and safety of passengers and crew. As part of these new protocols both crew and passengers are required to wear masks, and the cabin crew must also wear gloves. Wizz Air aircraft regularly undergo a strict disinfection process with an antiviral solution and all aircraft are further disinfected overnight. Onboard purchases are encouraged via contactless payment, and passengers are advised to follow the social distancing measures introduced by local health authorities and to shop online in order to minimize any physical contact at the airport.   

Wizz Flex for flexible travel

Wizz Air also offers a variety of services and tools for safe and comfortable travel planning. By adding Wizz Flex to a booking passengers can rest assured that if circumstances change, or they simply wish to travel on a different date or to a different destination, they can rebook on any Wizz Air flight of their choice. Wizz Air also recently introduced its Amelia chatbot which provides customers with information about their flights.

Following the recent inauguration of Treviso and the addition of Turin in October, the Irish low-cost carrier is strengthening its presence at Bergamo for the 2021-2022 winter season.  A total of 95 routes - of which 83 international and 12 domestic - will see Bergamo top 600 weekly flights to 33 countries in Europe and the Mediterranean. The five new destinations are Birmingham, Helsinki, Liverpool, Stockholm and Toulouse.  The airline will up the number of new Boeing B737-8200s based at the airport from the current six to ten by summer 2022, and will be adding a further ten 89-seater B737-800s for a total of 20 aircraft based at Milan Bergamo.

Six new flights and a total of 290 weekly flights from Bologna Airport

Bologna, Ryanair’s second most important Italian airport, gets six new routes, each with two weekly flights, in the new 2021 winter schedule. "From Bologna’s Marconi Airport we will operate 290 flights a week to 63 destinations in 25 countries. These will include the six new Stockholm, Nuremberg, Santiago, Zaragoza, Agadir and Fez flights,” says Ryanair CEO Eddie Watson. “Our passengers can also take advantage of the Zero Flight Change Supplement offer in the event their plans undergo changes.”

“These absurd taxes need to be removed” - CEO Watson 

There is no shortage of controversial remarks in Watson's speech such as the issue of excessive airport taxes  - €6 government tax per passenger included in the ticket price - which, according to the company, is preventing further investments. “We have already invested eight billion euro in Italy which is our second European market,” continues Watson, “and we would put in another four, but these absurd taxes need to be removed. Within four years we will have a renewed fleet of 600 aircraft, with the introduction of the new B737-8200s, two hundred and ten of these will complement or replace the current fleet of 460 aircraft.”  

Boosting seats on routes to Portugal

The airline today announced further additions to its winter schedule between Italy and Portugal.   “We are happy to be adding new weekly flights between Italy and Portugal,” said Ryanair's Head of Sales & Marketing Chiara Ravara. “This will support the recovery of the tourism sector as vaccination programs continue and Europe reopens.  Ryanair customers can now book their well-deserved vacation with the confidence that if their plans change, up to the end of December 2021 they can move their travel dates twice without paying the flight change surcharge, paying only any difference between the price of the original ticket and the new flight.”