Ryanair has announced a new Rome Ciampino-Liverpool route that will operate twice a week from April as part of its summer 2023 operations. 

Rome Ciampino-Liverpool fares start from just €29.99

To celebrate, Ryanair has launched a limited time promotion for customers looking to book early to get a bargain for the 2023 summer holidays, with fares starting from just €29.99 available now on Ryanair.com. 

“We are giving Rome-based customers even more choice when planning their summer holidays” 

Mauro Bolla, Country Manager for Italy, said: 

"With Easter and Summer 2023 approaching, we are delighted to offer even more choice and value to our Italian customers with this new route to Liverpool. We are also giving Rome-based customers even more choice when planning their long-awaited summer holidays. To celebrate this good news, we have launched a limited time promotion for customers who want to book early for their summer holidays.”

It really is an all-Italian summer for United Airlines, which is adding a second daily New York-Naples flight to its already packed summer schedule from the Big Apple.

“The new daily Naples flight will have 46 seats in business”

“The new flight on the Newark-Capodichino will operate from 23 June to 7 September with a Boeing 767-300 High J, with more seats in business class,” says Walter Cianciusi, Italy country sales manager United Airlines.  The flight, with 46 seats in business, 22 in premium class, and 99 in economy will therefore be added during the peak of the summer season to the flight operating from 6 May and “responds to the very high demand from the United States. it will also guarantee more choice and options for Italian passengers bound for the US.”

The new service will take-off from Newark at 22.15 and arrive in Naples at 13.00; depart from Capodichino at 15.00 and land in the US at 19.05.

The San Francisco-Rome flight will debut on 26 May

The Italian summer of United Airlines also brings with it the long-awaited debut of the San Francisco-Rome Fiumicino route:

"We will be the first and only American carrier to connect the West Coast with Italy: a historic event both for us, who have one of our hubs in San Francisco, and for the Italian market.” The connection will be daily from 26 May and operated with a Boeing 777 with an expected “purely leisure clientele, although we hope the route will also be attractive to corporate passengers. And it will mainly be, at least initially, inbound traffic to Italy.” 

New York-Venice to resume from 26 April

The summer season will therefore see an increase in capacity on the Italian market of 25-30% (this figure does not yet include the second daily flight to Naples. Ed.). In addition to the annual flights from Newark to Milan Malpensa and Rome, the Washington-Rome flight will resume from March, and the New York-Venice flight from 26 April, as well as connections from Chicago, both to Rome and Milan and the Naples routes.” 

So yes: no more traffic, no more queues, no more stress. Being stuck in a taxi in the traffic in the centre of Milan or Rome will no longer be a problem. At least from 2026 when the Winter Olympics will see the first electric flying taxis come into operation.  Italy (starting with Rome) will be one of the first countries in the world to launch this futuristic and sustainable urban mobility service which is neither science fiction nor unthinkable - as it might have been in the Boomers generation’s literary or cinematographic imagination - but is already a reality, albeit at an experimental level. How? On board mega-drones capable of carrying two people, the pilot and a passenger, who will then become just two passengers as the aircraft will travel along pre-established routes without the need for a pilot, as is already the case with the latest generation of subways. 

Enac, the Italian national civil aviation authority,  has an airport plan that has already identified the first cities where the flying taxis will take off: Milan, with two urban vertiports (near CityLife and at Porta Romana) as well as two at Linate and Malpensa the two city airports.  Rome will have two urban vertiports and one at Fiumicino airport, and then it will be the turn of Turin, Venice, Bari and Cortina, with another 46 provinces close to Milan, Rome, Venice, Turin and Bari upgrading 186 existing facilities  and becoming vertiports.

For the time being we are talking about short journeys of 10-15 minutes over the average distance between the airport and the city centre: a decidedly competitive timeframe compared to current road transport. Prices could initially be around €120-150 per passenger then dropping to €70-80 euros in line with the availability of a premium clientele, at least in the start-up stage. So all we have to do is wait, The future is closer than ever.

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist

EasyJet ups its game in Italy by adding eight international routes for next summer. The five airports expanding their summer offerings are Milan Malpensa and Naples Capodichino, the first two easyJet bases in Italy, as well as Palermo, Bari, and Ancona.

La Coruna is the start of the Camino di Santiago de Compostela

Milan Malpensa is easyJet's main hub in continental Europe, and flights for to La Coruna will take off for the first time on March 28th to this city which inspired the young Picasso. It is also the start of one of the two itineraries on the famous Camino de Santiago de Compostela, and will be reachable with two weekly flights on Tuesdays and Saturdays.

Four new international routes, and Zurich returns

There are also four new international routes from Naples: Birmingham, Porto, and Pola, as well as the resumption of Zurich flights which will be operational again on May 29. All these new connections will have bi-weekly frequencies. Palermo will have an easyJet connection to Porto every Saturday beginning July 1, while Bari will have two weekly flights on Mondays and Fridays starting on June 26. Finally, from July 3 the Ancona-London Gatwick flight will resume with two weekly frequencies, on Mondays and Fridays.

“The prospects are for growth, returning to pre-Covid levels”

“During the pandemic, it was a very competitive situation and our offer was consolidated,” says country manager Italia Lorenzo Lagorio. “We want to maintain it by guaranteeing customers the best product, with more frequencies and the best times. This summer we will fly to 19 Italian airports, including Lampedusa. We have 33 planes in Italy, with our main base in Malpensa, as well as Naples and Venice. The overall passenger numbers expected are similar to those seen in summer 2019, but our network has evolved: thethe  prospects are for growth, returning to pre-Covid levels.”

Lufthansa’s offer for ITA Airways, with an initial minority stake, finally arrived on the evening of 18 January.

The final step would seem to be total control of ITA Airways

However the German aviation giant would seem to have the intention of moving to total control of the Italian airline, which in October 2021 took over from Alitalia and is currently 100% in the hands of the Italian state.  In an official note the Lufthansa group announced that it had “submitted a letter of intent to the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance” in which it stressed that “should both parties decide to sign the MOU, further negotiations and discussions will be conducted on an exclusive basis.” 

The initial investment should be around €350 million for 40% of ITA Airways

The Cologne-based group specifies that the offer envisages taking over a minority stake in ITA Airways, before moving on to fully control it later, but it does not provide details. "Further in-depth talks will therefore focus primarily on the forms and modalities of the possible equity investment, the commercial and operational integration of ITA Airways into the Lufthansa Group and the resulting synergies." Rumours would have it that the Germans' initial investment will be around €350 million for 40% of the company.

Italy is one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Europe

The ball is now in court of the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, which has confirmed receipt of the offer, and “reserves the right to examine the congruity of the offer in compliance with the requirements of the Dpcm. No other offers arrived by the deadline.” The Lufthansa Group highlights how Italy is “the most important market outside of domestic markets and the United States (...) The desire to integrate ITA Airways into the group's companies lies in the country's strong global trade, business and private travel, strong export-oriented economy and in being one of the most attractive tourist destinations in Europe.”

More news about yhe company airline

Rome is the undeniable object of desire for countless tourists from all over the world and, in particular, for US visitors. This summer the Eternal City, the stunning setting for Audrey Hepburn's Roman Holiday, Gladiator, La Dolce Vita and, more recently, La Grande Bellezza, was once again the protagonist of US airlines' growth, with a capacity that topped pre-Covid 2019 levels.

But what really stands out is a new direct flight from San Francisco which is an absolute first for United Airlines, "the first and only US carrier to operate a direct flight to Rome, with daily flights from 26 May," says Walter Cianciusi, United's Italy country sales manager. And the US carrier will find itself competing with ITA Airways, which is ready to debut on the same route from 1 July with up to five weekly flights. Thus confirming “the consolidation of our expansion towards the US, which is ITA’s leading international market,” says CCO Emiliana Limosani.

The two airlines are preparing to fill a significant gap: San Francisco is the largest destination in North America not directly served from Rome, just as Rome is the largest market not served by San Francisco.

The expectations? High, of course, and the timing would seem propitious: "Italy is experiencing a moment of great visibility in the United States, not just because of the favourable exchange rate, but also because of the long wave of desire for post-pandemic travel," says Cianciusi. 

But that's not all. Further interest from potential US tourists - just in case it was needed - is, he added  thanks to "the success of the second edition of the TV series The White Lotus (aired by HBO in November and December 2022. Ed.) which is set in Taormina, “and has further heightened the desire of American travellers, especially the high-end market."

 

Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist

Passengers departing from Venice airport will pay a €2.50 surcharge on their flight ticket from 1 April 2023, whether they are residents or not. 

The tax will raise gross revenues of €11.5 million annually

The introduction of the tax, according to City Council estimates, will raise a gross revenue of €11.5 million a year. The tax will be collected by the airport's management company, Save, which will receive a commission (an agreement on this still has to be finalised).

“The tax will remain in force for several years” 

"Municipalities with a per capita debt of more than €1,000 can introduce new measures, and the adoption of the boarding tax is subject to the signing of an agreement between the mayor and the president of the Council,” said budget councillor Michele Zuin. 

The tax will remain in force for several years and will be used to pay off the Venice municipality's debt, which amounted to €269 million on 31 December 2020.

Venice airport will close 2022 with 9.2 million passengers 

Meanwhile, for the current winter season up to next 25 March, Venice airport has flights to 73 destinations and operations by 34 scheduled carriers for a total seat capacity in the 2019/20 winter season, similar to that of the last pre-winter season. This confirms the progressive trend of the recovery of traffic volumes which started in the summer and will see Venice airport to close 2022 with 9.2 million passengers, equal to 80% of 2019.

Taipei to Rome three days a weekChina Airlines will return to Rome with a direct flight from Taipei on 26 March 2023, operating three weekly Airbus A350 services from Taiwan. 

After the forced pandemic stoppage, the airline will thus once again be operating the route to Fiumicino with an Airbus A350 three days a week.  The operations from Rome - as stated on the carrier's website – will have departures on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, while from Taipei the connections will be on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. 

The Taiwan airline has connections to many Asian destinations

China Airlines passengers arriving in Taiwan will then be able to take advantage of the company's network of flights to numerous Asian destinations, including Denpasar, Manila, Hanoi and also to Sydney.

Wizz Air, the fastest growing and most eco-friendly airline in the world, is now operating Naples - Abu Dhabi flights.   

Tickets can be purchased on Wizz Air's website and mobile app

The recent launch of the new route further strengthens the company's presence in the Middle East, and in particular in Abu Dhabi, which can currently also be reached thanks to flights from Bari and Catania airports. Tickets for Wizz Air flights can be purchased on its website and via the WIZZ mobile app. 

From Naples airport Wizz Air operates on 26 routes to 15 countries 

Wizz Air, which launched in Italy in 2004, today has a fleet of 173 aircraft, six Italian bases and flights departing from 25 Italian airports. From Naples Capodichino airport, where the airline has been based since July 2021, it operates on 26 routes to 15 countries.

Corporate Communications Manager Daria Sergeeva said:

"We are delighted to officially launch this new route from Naples Airport.  We hope that this will further strengthen the interchange between the two countries."

 

Wizz Air is one of the most sustainable carriers

Wizz Air offers travellers a high degree of flexibility through its WIZZ Flex service, offering an additional layer of protection and allowing passengers to choose to travel on a different date or to a different destination. It also gives them the option to cancel their flight up to three hours before departure without penalty, and get 100% of the original fare immediately refunded in airline credit. The ultra-modern and efficient fleet also reinforces the airline's position as one of the most sustainable airlines and will enable Wizz Air to further reduce its environmental impact by 25% per passenger/kilometre by the end of the decade.

Air India will return to Milan in February, continuing to expand its network with six destinations in Europe and the United States. 

Four weekly flights between Milan and Delhi

The airline will thus return to Milan Malpensa from 1 February 2023; flights will also resume from New Delhi to Copenhagen and Vienna, as well as from Mumbai to Paris and Frankfurt. In the USA, the carrier will inaugurate the new route from Mumbai to New York. On the New Delhi-Milan route the fights will start on 1 February 2023 with four frequencies per week, operated by B787-8 Dreamliners configured with 18 seats in business class and 238 in economy class.

Traffic at Milan Malpensa is picking up

This continues the recovery of intercontinental traffic at Malpensa airport with flows increasingly close to pre-pandemic levels. Things are at last moving on the Asian front as, after the inauguration of Eva Air's direct Milan-Taipei flight, and Air China's announcement for the Wenzhou connection, now it is Air India's turn.