July 26, 2026
The end of 2024 coincides with the closing of the circle on the ITA Airways-Lufthansa versus EU Antitrust affair. On 29 November Brussels gave its unconditional approval to the transaction with the two parties entering into an agreement and the German group acquiring an initial 41% stake in ITA's capital.
Having closed a chapter, that to describe as tormented would be an oversimplification, 2025 will start for the newborn group with a new industrial plan. But not before mid-January when Lufthansa and the Italian Ministry of the Economy (still ITA's sole shareholder) will have signed the deal and both partners will start writing new chapters of a shared history that, from that day forward, will culminate with the total integration between ITA and Lufthansa, probably within a couple of years.
Concretely the first steps will be towards the start-up of codeshare flights with the members of the LH group (Lufthansa, Swiss, Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines, Eurowings/Discover) and the networking of the respective loyalty programmes (Volare and Miles&More). The Germans consider all-round cost optimization and the enhancement of ITA's revenue management—two of its weakest areas—to be their primary focus.
Within the framework of the group's future multi-hub system, a new role will be played by Air Dolomiti, the Italian airline of the LH group, indicated as a feeder for ITA's long-haul flights departing from Rome Fiumicino. "However, there will also be ongoing work with SkyAlps, a regional airline based in Bolzano (Alto Adige), which could instead feed Fiumicino from medium-small airports. And while efforts to define a new network continue without pause - between expansion on the one hand and the revision of unprofitable or non-strategic routes on the other – the new year promises to bring exciting developments.
Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist
Published in Editorial
easyJet’s 2025 plan, as illustrated by country manager Lorenzo Lagorio, will revolve around its four bases of Milan Malpensa, Milan Linate, Rome Fiumicino and Naples.
Linate and Fiumicino are the two new bases
With a total of 38 aircraft in place, five more than in 2024, and 21 million seats available, “the Italian market thus becomes the second most important for easyjet, after the United Kingdom and before France.” There are numerous novelties, starting with the two new bases at Linate and Fiumicino. From the end of March 2025 the Milanese city airport, for months a real bone of contention between ITA-LH and the European antitrust, will have five based aircraft for 1.5 million seats on sale which is +145% over 2024. It will also have a network of 21 routes - 16 of which new - to 12 countries, numbers that position easyJet as the second carrier at Linate, with a market share of over 20%. We will have 120 pilots and flight attendants, who will then increase, when the three wet-lease aircraft from ITA Airways (as per agreements with the EU they will be available for one season and up to a maximum of three) leave and are replaced by our own aircraft and crews.” 
“Rome Fiumicino will have 1.4 million seats on sale for summer 2025”
The new destinations are Lisbon, Barcelona, Birmingham, Frankfurt, Ibiza, Brussels, Luxembourg, Manchester, Edinburgh, Oslo, Vienna and Copenhagen, Split, Figari, Palma de Mallorca and Tenerife.
“Of these, only three are “obliged” by the dictates of the EU, namely Brussels, Frankfurt and Vienna,- adds Lagorio, -the rest meet the demands of both leisure and business traffic. Some purely summer destinations stand out, such as Corsica or Tenerife, as do absolute novelties such as the connection to Barcelona. Flights to London Gatwick increase to two daily, while Amsterdam and Berlin with up to three flights per day. Between Linate and Paris (both Orly and Charles de Gaulle) flights will increase to 4 a day, confirming its leadership role between the two cities.” “Rome Fiumicino, on the other hand, will see 3 aircraft based from the end of March, 1.4 million seats on sale for summer 2025, 35% more than last summer, and a total of 16 routes (five of which are new) to five countries. Rome, among the European airports where we do not have a base, is the one with the largest presence of easyJet aircraft.”
New routes here include: Hamburg, Frankfurt, Munich, Brussels and Zurich.
Milan Malpensa is easyJet’s main Italian base
In 2025 growth is not limited to the new bases at Linate and Fiumicino, “but continues at Malpensa, our main Italian base, as well as in continental Europe, where we have 22 aircraft based operating 74 routes and a total of 6.3 million seats on offer for next summer. There will be four new routes from Varese airport to Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Paris Orly and Evenes - Lofoten. In addition, the connections from Malpensa to Cairo and Tromsø and those from Naples to Prague and Alicante, among the additions to this year's winter season, will also be operated during the summer. Growth between the two airports of Linate and Malpensa will be complementary: we want easyJet to become the reference company for the Milanese market.”
Naples will serve 52 routes with 8 aircraft next summer
Overall, the carrier is expanding its offer between Italy and Germany by over 50% “a market where we have been studying a possible expansion for some time, even before the ITA-Lufthansa operation” with over one million seats on sale between the two countries next summer. In addition to the routes from Milan and Rome, there are also services to Munich already operated from the Naples base and flights to Berlin from Venice, Pisa, Catania, Olbia and Naples. For the summer of 2025, 8 aircraft will be based in Naples, serving a network of 52 routes, for 2.8 million seats offered, which is 5% more than last summer: “The new routes are Alicante, Luxembourg, Prague, Salzburg and Strasbourg. Confirmed, finally, the operation from Salerno inaugurated last 11 July and up tp November we carried 46,000 passengers.” To complete the picture of new 2025 routes, there are another two new routes: from Lamezia Terme to Nice and from Palermo to Bristol, bringing the total number of new routes from Italy to 27.
At Milan the split is 50/50 inbound to outbound
As far as traffic composition is concerned, “today at Milan Linate we register 50-50% inbound and outbound passengers, but the forthcoming opening of the base will allow us to better respond to the needs of passengers from Milan and Lombardy, so we expect the percentage of outbound passengers to increase.” Milan’s city airport also boasts a higher number of business travellers “ 30% more compared to the average of 20% for other airports” and the introduction of some of the new destinations, served by more frequencies per day, will be a further incentive in easyJet's choice of this passenger target. From Rome Fiumicino the picture is similar, but in this case the percentages are unbalanced in favour of inbound with 70% of passengers coming from abroad. In particular at Rome,we need to make ourselves known to potential passengers, after having somewhat neglected this market in recent years.”
“Aiming for competitive fares”
The investment in Linate already reveals a different fare level compared to the offer from Milan Malpensa: “Linate airport is more expensive than Malpensa, so it is obvious that there are higher departure fares. But the passenger target is also different, there is more corporate traffic. In general, however, even from here we will have competitive fares which, perhaps are lacking today considering the offer is almost exclusively the prerogative of traditional carriers. I believe that our presence will create price containment dynamics.”
Published in Transportation
It was a ribbon-cutting day at Malpensa with All Nippon Airways' first flight from Tokyo Haneda to Milan Malpensa.
Milan is important for business and leisure traffic
This debut puts an end to the long wait for the inauguration of what is the only direct connection between Japan and Milan, originally scheduled for March 2020 and then postponed due to the outbreak of the pandemic.
“Milan is a key destination for ANA in Europe, both in terms of business and leisure traffic, and is a privileged gateway to Italy for Japanese travellers,’ said the company's CEO, Shinichi Inoue. “ Japan is a very popular destination among Italians, who are currently the fourth largest market in Europe for the number of arrivals. The new flight will certainly also be instrumental in strengthening commercial and industrial relations between Italy and Japan, which are already very solid.”
An early morning arrival in Tokyo Haneda
The route is operated three times weekly, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays, with a Boeing 787-9 configured with 215 seats. “The early morning arrival in Tokyo allows our passengers, especially business travellers, to be able to enjoy the whole day. In addition, from Haneda, it is possible to continue via the ANA network to numerous domestic destinations and the Asia-Pacific region.”
Malpensa and Japan
“ANA's decision to introduce flights to Milan Malpensa further confirms the industry's strong interest in the potential of the Milan and Northern Italy catchment area. After 14 years, Malpensa once again welcomes the livery of a Japanese carrier, and today Tokyo is once again reachable with a non-stop flight, for the first time on the large Haneda hub,” said Luigi Battuello, SEA's chief commercial officer.
“A total of 27 destinations in Asia for Milan”
“In the last 12 months, transit passengers between Milan and Tokyo have totalled 200,000, a figure that rises to 300,000 if we consider Japan as a whole. With Tokyo, the number of Asian destinations rises to 27, and it is thanks to them that this year the Milanese airport system (Malpensa and Linate Ed.) welcomed a record number of 33, 2 million passengers in the first ten months of the year, up by +11% over 2019 and 2023.”
Published in Transportation
The British clow-cost is ready to open two new bases in Italy from the end of March 2025: Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino.
Linking Linate with airports in Europe
The two new bases will be added to Malpensa and Naples, where eight aircraft will be positioned. EasyJet is thus responding to the request to guarantee connections for three years between Linate and Fiumicino and some airports in Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and Austria, offsetting the risk of monopoly by Ita-Lufthansa on the same routes.
Three ITA A302s on wetlease
Thus easyJet’s future as a remedy maker takes on precise contours, close to the green light from the EU Antitrust Authority, expected very soon, to the marriage between ITA Airways and Lufthansa. Regarding the fleet, of the eight Airbuses, at least three will be A320s made available by ITA Airways under a wetlease agreement. The opening of the two bases is subject to the approval of the Ita-Lufthansa transaction by the European Commission.
Increased frequencies and optimized schedules
As for the network, in addition to the 10 European routes included in the ITA-Lufthansa solutions, the airline is preparing to increase frequencies and optimize schedules on already active routes: from a greater number of flights between Linate and London Gatwick to the opening of new destinations in the United Kingdom, continental Europe and various leisure destinations.
Over 20 million seats on the Italian market
More than 20 million seats will be on sale to and from Italy on a total of 234 routes, 29 of which will be launched in the 2024 fiscal year: this is the snapshot of easyJet's positioning in Italy. In the fiscal year that has just closed (last 30 September) the company confirmed itself as the leading carrier at Malpensa, with a capacity of 8.6 million seats (up 8%) on 67 routes.
Investing in its Malpensa training centre
easyJet recently presented, in collaboration with CAE, a further investment in its Malpensa training centre with the addition of a new simulators dedicated to training the company's crews, further consolidating the airport's role as easyJet's main continental hub. At its Naples base the carrier offered 3.7 million seats on 49 routes, up 13%.
Published in Transportation
Latam Airlines is relaunching in Italy with 12 weekly flights to Milan and Rome.
Italy is Latam’s 3rd European market
“Italy is the third most important market in Europe, behind Spain and the United Kingdom, with which the difference is minimal,” and this winter the airline is increasing the capacity on offer, said Davide Ioppolo, regional commercial director for Europe, the Middle East and South Africa.
Over 300,000 Italian passengers since January
“We will operate five frequencies a week from both Milan and Rome to Sao Paulo, which from November will increase to six from both airports. Compared to pre-pandemic 2019 - when we operated only from Milan and with a smaller aircraft - we find ourselves with almost double the number of seats. Since the beginning of the year we have carried around 300,000 passengers on the two Italian routes, with an average load factor of around 93-94%, and this summer the increase in travellers was +30%.”
Load factors above 90% levels
The 2024 closure forecast for the Italian market points to “400,000 passengers, while globally we will reach 80 million.” And for next year which in Italy will be a Jubilee Year, estimates are also positive: “demand is very healthy and forecasts for the future equally so. In a couple of years, we could see a slowdown at a global level: but the problems related to aircraft deliveries will affect the industry, leading to a sort of balancing act with the lower demand allowing us to maintain prices and load factors above 90%, levels we have been accustomed to over the last two years.”
Most sales pass through travel agencies
The collaboration with the agency channel is a constant strategy: “this is where the majority of sales pass through and we are also close to the agencies with training activities. The increase in sales from the trade - adv, retail and consolidators - stands at +25-30% and South America still has a very strong and partly unexplored growth potential: this is why it is essential to join forces, not only with the airline and the tourism board, but with the entire supply chain.”
Published in Transportation
Never will it be truer than in 2025 that all roads lead to Rome. And the same can be said for all air routes. The eagerly awaited Jubilee will be a magnet for the Eternal City, which will once again be an incredible sounding board for Catholics - and not only - from all over the world. The forecasts? We are talking about something like 35 million arrivals to Rome alone (there were 21 million in 2023, 8% more than in the 2019 pre-Jubilee).
These numbers will undoubtedly put a strain on the city's infrastructure, starting with its airports, but that is not discouraging US carriers which they have already begun implementing their largest operations to date. The increases in capacity planned for next year, and especially for the summer, seem to be the apotheosis of a rising parabola that started post-pandemic, and that for now shows no sign of easing, even in terms of travel demand. Demand that seeks solutions through increased frequencies to well-established destinations - Rome and Milan chiefly - but also with the launch of alternatives in the rest of Italy, for example Palermo and Catania in Sicily.
All of this despite an industry continually challenged by the difficulty of sourcing new aircraft, which is an essential element of capacity growth. So be it: Italy becomes, as in the case of Delta Air Lines, the main European market in which to invest (a +10% capacity increase already deployed) with the launch of four new routes, Catania-New York, Naples-Atlanta, Milan Malpensa-Boston and Rome Fiumicino-Minneapolis.
Little will change at United Airlines, which will launch the New York-Palermo route alongside the direct flights already operating on Rome Fiumicino, Milan Malpensa, Naples, and Venice with a Washington-Venice flight in addition to the Newark-Venice. For American Airlines 2025 will bring new daily routes from Philadelphia to Milan Malpensa, and from Miami to Rome: the latter bringing to six the number of US airports linked directly to Fiumicino. And American Airlines will also increase the frequency of flights on routes already operating on Rome, Naples and Venice, making 2025 the summer with the most extensive operations to Italy in the carrier’s history.
Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist
Published in Editorial
United Airlines ups the ante on Italy with the introduction of new Newark-Palermo and Washington-Venice flights.
“Expanding beyond traditional business destinations”
United Airlines is predicting record numbers for the summer of 2025 when the schedule of the US airline with the largest number of flights across the Atlantic, will be the most extensive in its history, with over 760 weekly flights. An expansion that will touch destinations that are, as Patrick Quayle, senior vice president of global network planning and alliances, puts it, “off the beaten track. United has always been known as a leading international airline, but over the past eight years we have expanded the international network beyond traditional business destinations. We're looking to fly to places that speak to all target travellers, from newlywed couples to adventure seekers and beyond.”
Italy is the object of desire for United Airlines
Among United’s novelties, which include flights to eight new cities, there is a new Italian entry, Palermo, as well as a new route to Venice (already connected with New York) from Washington.
Italy, therefore, reconfirms itself as the object of desire for United Airlines which recently announced a flurry of new routes for the summer of 2025. Adding to Milan, Rome, Naples and Venice, United will be the only US airline to offer non-stop services between the US and Palermo, the capital of Sicily, and by summer 2025 it will be operating up to 13 direct services a day to Italy.
Newark-Palermo will start on 21 May 2025
The Newark-Palermo - initially scheduled for 2020 but put on stand-by due Covid - will take off on 21 May with three frequencies a week on Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays and will be served by a Boeing767-400. The seasonal service between Venice and Washington will start on 23 May 2025, with daily flights operated by a Boeing 767-300 configured in three classes of service: 30 United Polaris suites with fully reclining seats, 24 United Premium Plus seats for more comfort, and 149 seats in Economy, of which 32 in Economy Plus with extra legroom.
Milan Malpensa-San Francisco may be in the pipeline
Flights from Dulles International Airport will be in addition to Newark, and will be brought forward to 30 March next year, three weeks earlier than this year's operation. United’s plans already stretch beyond 2025 when a new connection between Milan Malpensa and San Francisco (a destination already served by Rome) could be in the pipeline.
Published in Transportation
The Alitalia brand returns with ITA Airways launching “Inspired by Alitalia.”
The return of a historic brand
ITA Airways’ top management have had a lot on their plate recently what with the opening of the carrier's new Northern Italian commercial offices, a positive close to the first semester and the upcoming marriage with Lufthansa. And the return of the historic Alitalia brand has popped up initially not on the fuselage of ITA’s planes, “although by the end of the year it will be on the most important touchpoints,- says general manager Andrea Benassi. - ITA Airways, Inspired by Alitalia is a declaration of profound gratitude towards a history and values of which we are all proud. The Alitalia brand is synonymous with elegance, innovation and excellence the world over.” It also represents “important values in the history of aviation that we carry with us, and it will contribute to enhancing ITA’s image,” added the airline’s president Antonino Turicchi.
Ita Airways' president Antonino Turicchi and the general manager Andrea Benassi
ITA carried 8.3 million passengers in the first semester
The results of the first six months of 2024 “confirm the company's growth with better results than in the first six months of 2023,” underlines Turicchi. Revenues totalled €1.4 billion (of which €1.2 million from the passenger division, +33% over the same period in 2023, with 50% from long-haul. “This year the ebitda reached break in the first six months,- said CFO Claudio Faggiani. For the time being the net result remains negative, with a loss of €140 million “strongly influenced by the unfavourable euro-dollar exchange rate.” The company transported 8.3 million passengers, +26%, with a load factor of 79%.
The importance of Linate Airport
“Milan Linate, is our second airport with both business and high-quality leisure travellers. In the eight months to the end of August, ITA operated 150 daily flights from Linate and recorded revenues of €370 million (+20%), and four million passengers, of which three domestic and one million international. The airport has gained a high level of prestige in Europe, also thanks to the metro which only takes 12 minutes to reach the centre of Milan.
Published in Transportation
Wizz Air’s A321XLR, the latest jewel from Airbus, will operate on the Milan-Malpensa to Abu Dhabi route from 2 June 2025.
The A321XLR is “our X factor” says CEO Varadi“The new A321XLR is ‘our ‘X factor,” says Jozsef Varadi, CEO of Wizz Air, confirming the debut of the innovative new aircraft on the Milan Malpensa-Abu Dhabi route next year. Operated in just over seven hours the route will be served by daily frequencies, with a €99.99 launch fare. “The Airbus A321XLR is the most cost-efficient aircraft in its class and, thanks to its longer range, allows us to connect the most distant destinations in our network and expand it further.
Wizz Air Milano A321XLR
There is strong demand for low-cost to the UAE
“The A32XLR can boast 30% less carbon intensity than other aircraft. We are already operating several ultra-low-cost routes of 5-6 hours, and the XLR will extend our proposal to 7-8 hour flights.” The first delivery of the A321XLR, configured with 236 seats, is expected “next March, but Airbus’ delays do not allow us to be certain.” The low-cost entry on the route to Abu Dhabi responds “to a strong demand for low-cost connections between Milan and the United Arab Emirates. This new route will revolutionize the concept of medium-haul travel.”
Wizz Air operates on 92 destinations in 38 countries
The Hungarian low-cost thus relaunches its commitment to Malpensa, where it opened a base in 2020. “The first in Italy, followed by Rome Fiumicino, Venice, Catania and Naples.” A network that how counts 92 destinations in 38 countries, with 23 A321neo aircraft based and almost 90 million passengers transported, since the start of operations in Italy. “Today in Italy we have a market share of some 10%, which we count on doubling in the short term.”
Brunini, Sea: “Malpensa is the right place for the A321XLR”
Courageous and innovative: this is how Armando Brunini, CEO of Sea Milan Airports, defines Wizz Air. “We are honoured that Malpensa is the launching market for the new Airbus A321XLR. Milan and Lombardy represent a large market. We are one of the two-three most important airports in terms of network extension and long-haul presence without a hub carrier, and this shows the market's importance. And Wizz Air has understood this. The XLR marries our strategy of making Malpensa an airport that looks increasingly far ahead.”
In the plans: Italy-India Wizz Air flights
Varadi also confirms that the flight to Abu Dhabi “is only the beginning. We have many ideas for the A321XLR2. And among these is certainly that of “a direct flight between Italy and India: the latter is still an under-served market. It will be a long journey, but a new route from Italy could make a lot of sense.”
Published in Transportation
Nostalgics of the ITA Airways-Lufthansa affair can rest assured, it is a never-ending story. And with no shortage of twists and turns.
After the July go-ahead from the European Commission's Antitrust Authority for the Lufthansa group’s planned acquisition of 41% of ITA Airways' capital the stages of the integration process are intensive and plentiful. Right now the Italian airline and the German giant are engaged in discussions to meet the conditions imposed by Brussels for the finalization of the entire operation.
This is the backdrop to the affair involving easyJet and Volotea in a head-to-head battle for the allocation of the slots that ITA and Lufthansa will relinquish at Milan Linate airport. This step is necessary to avoid the monopoly on medium-haul routes that would otherwise be created by the long-awaited marriage. And a similar situation applies to long-haul routes, but that’s another story.
At Linate, which is Milan's City Airport, the reduction of ITA and LH flights on intra-European routes means giving up15 daily slot pairs (30 return flights) but also nine pairs at Rome Fiumicino. While negotiations have from the beginning seen easyJet in pole position, a potential entry of Volotea is back on the cards after the failed attempt to obtain slots in Madrid following the stop to the IAG-Air Europa merger.
The final decision, due by the beginning of November, will once again be up to the EU Antitrust Authority. In addition to the cession of slots and the obligation to operate certain routes for at least three years, a five-year commercial agreement between easyJet (or Volotea) and ITA-LH is envisaged, with the latter having to help fill the former's aircraft.
Another page still to be written is that of the future extraordinary shareholders' meeting that will deliberate the reserved capital increase of €325 million by Lufthansa and appoint the new board of directors, which will be made up of five members. Three of these, including the chairman, will be appointed by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance, and two by Lufthansa, with one taking on the role of managing director. The countdown has begun, and bets are open.
Mariella Cattaneo
Journalist
Published in Editorial
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