Alitalia has received its first new Airbus A330-200 aircraft from the Airbus facility in Toulouse, France. The aircraft is configured in a high comfort three class layout and is the first Alitalia aircraft to feature the new premium economy “Classica Plus” class and a completely updated “Magnifica” business class.



Seating 230 passengers with 181 in economy, 21 in premium economy and 28 in business class, the aircraft will be deployed on Alitalia’s network of transatlantic routes. It is the first of two new A330s to be delivered to Alitalia this year.

“The high efficiency and low operating costs of the A330 made it the perfect platform for the launch of our new Classica Plus”, said Andrea Stolfa, Alitalia’s Executive Vice President Marketing, Revenue Management & Network. “And with our new business class full flat seats updating the Magnifica class, our passengers will be treated to the best service in the skies, featuring a wide range of upscale Italian brands: food, wines and travel accessories.”

“Alitalia customers travelling on the new A330s will benefit from the most comfortable cabin available, while Alitalia will benefit from the aircraft’s unparalleled reliability, eco-efficiency, and its commonality with their existing A320 family fleet,” said John Leahy, Airbus Chief Operating Officer, Customers. "We are proud to be partnering with Alitalia as they expand their fleet with the A330, and launch their new cabin product line.”

Airbus aircraft share a unique cockpit and operational commonality, allowing airlines to use the same pool of pilots, cabin crews and maintenance engineers, bringing operational flexibility and resulting in significant cost savings

The A330 is one of the most widely used widebody aircraft in service today. To date, Airbus has won more than 1,000 firm orders for the various versions of the aircraft. Almost 700 A330s have already been delivered and the aircraft is currently flying with over 80 operators worldwide.

Airbus press release 15 July 2010

Alitalia Joins Air France-KLM Group, Delta Air Lines in Industry's Leading Trans-Atlantic Joint Venture

Alitalia, Italy's leading airline, today joined the Air France-KLM Group and Delta Air Lines as a member of the airline industry's leading trans-Atlantic joint venture. Launched in April 2009, the multi-party agreement created a single, coordinated network for customers flying across the Atlantic, allowing the member airlines to share revenues and costs on their trans-Atlantic routes.

Through the four-way joint venture, passengers have convenient access to the world's largest trans-Atlantic network, which offers almost 250 flights and approximately 55,000 seats each day, now including 20 daily trans-Atlantic flights to 5 U.S. destinations from Rome and Milan Malpensa airports. With Alitalia's addition, the joint venture represents approximately 26 percent of total trans-Atlantic capacity, with annual revenues estimated at more than $10 billion USD.

Rome joins Amsterdam, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York-JFK and Paris-CDG as the core hubs of the joint venture, with additional trans-Atlantic service from Cincinnati, Milan Malpensa, Memphis and Salt Lake City. Wherever traffic rights permit, the airlines offer customers codeshare service between the United States and the European Union, and in many cases beyond, creating one network for seamless airline-to-airline connections between points in North America and the European Union.

The joint venture's geographic scope includes all flights between North America and Europe, between Amsterdam and India and between North America and Tahiti.

"Today marks an important milestone in Alitalia's development plan," said Alitalia's CEO Rocco Sabelli. "Trans-Atlantic traffic is the most strategic and competitive marketplace. We are proud to be partnering with the world's leading airlines in a joint venture which the whole industry looks at as the benchmark. Such an achievement highlights the valuable results obtained so far by Alitalia, and further opens-up opportunities for our industrial and commercial growth."

"Delta's partnership with Europe's leading airlines has been a great success and has enabled us to add new destinations and convenience for customers across the United States and Europe," said Delta CEO Richard Anderson. "The addition of Alitalia to our joint venture will further bolster our ability to optimize resources, protect revenues and provide more benefits for our employees and shareholders."

"The trans-Atlantic joint venture has been strengthened by the arrival of Alitalia, which adds the Italian market, the third biggest in Europe, to the JV and also gives it access to the Rome-Fiumicino hub," said Air France-KLM CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon. "The Italian airline, a SkyTeam member, is a strategic partner of Air France-KLM with which it already has joint venture agreements on its Italy-France and Italy-Netherlands routes. It is therefore natural that this successful partnership should continue with Alitalia's participation in the trans-Atlantic JV."

"The inclusion of Alitalia is an important step for the joint venture and will strengthen the position of the other JV partners in the very important Italian market," said KLM President and CEO Peter Hartman. "Our customers can now choose between multiple gateways in the U.S. as well as in Europe, via Amsterdam Schiphol, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Rome Fiumicino."

Governance of the joint venture will be equally shared between Alitalia, the Air France-KLM Group and Delta. Alitalia representatives will immediately join the joint venture's 11 working groups responsible for implementing and managing the agreement in the areas of network, revenue management, sales, product, frequent flyer, advertising/brand, cargo, operations, information technology, communications and finance. Alitalia also will be included in all joint venture initiatives, including joint sales contracts, which launched in January 2009.

Alitalia's addition to the joint venture is effective April 1, 2010 as part of a long-term agreement effective until at least March 31, 2022.

The long history of cooperation among Air France, KLM and Delta dates to 1997, when KLM signed a joint venture agreement with Northwest Airlines. Delta, which merged with Northwest in 2008, signed its own joint venture agreement with Air France in 2007 following eight years of close trans-Atlantic cooperation. In 2009, both joint ventures were combined into one following the Delta-Northwest and Air France-KLM mergers.

The alliance of the four airlines, which is enabled by trans-Atlantic antitrust immunity granted by the U.S. and European governments, has delivered a number of benefits to consumers over the last decade. Dozens of new routes have been created as a result of the airlines' cooperation, including Delta's first service to London-Heathrow from Atlanta, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Detroit and New York-JFK. New nonstop service has also been launched between mid-sized cities such as Portland, Ore. and Amsterdam; Pittsburgh and Paris; and Salt Lake City and Paris.

Key facts and figures on the expanded joint venture
Nearly 250 daily trans-Atlantic flights
Almost 500 destinations in Europe and in North America
Annual revenues estimated at more than US$10 billion
More than 100,000 employees at Air France KLM
More than 70,000 employees at Delta
More than 14,000 employees at Alitalia

ROME, July 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/

New International Flights to LAX Generate Tens of Millions for Southern California Economy

Mayor Antonio R. Villaraigosa today cheered the announcement that Alitalia will resume nonstop service from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to Rome five times a week beginning June 5, 2010. The returning air service on wide-body aircraft is expected to generate hundreds of millions of dollars annually in economic activity in Southern California.

"I am very proud that Alitalia has chosen LAX as its U.S. West Coast gateway," said Mayor Villaraigosa. "The nonstop route between LAX and Rome will strengthen business, tourism and cultural ties with one of the most desirable cities in Europe, while providing improved connecting service to more southern European destinations.

"Gaining new and increased international service at LAX and LA/Ontario International Airport is a top priority for me because of the substantial contribution these flights make to the economy of Southern California," the Mayor added. "Alitalia's nonstop service to Rome is a prime example of the type of air service we want to attract to our airports."

"We are excited to bring the Alitalia brand back to Los Angeles," said Antonio Temporini, senior vice president for Alitalia in North America. "The return of the flight is a sign of Alitalia's renewal. With the launch of L.A.–Rome, Alitalia will be the only airline to offer a nonstop flight to Italy from the West Coast of the United States."

According to a study by the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, one average daily, round-trip, transoceanic flight of wide-body aircraft to/from LAX generates $623 million in economic output annually, and sustains 3,120 direct and indirect jobs in Southern California with annual wages of $156 million.

The flight from Los Angeles to Rome will operate with five weekly flights (Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday) using Boeing 777-200 aircraft with 291 seats.

The flight will depart from LAX's Terminal 2 at 3:25 p.m. Pacific Time and land in Rome, Fiumicino (FCO) at 12:15 p.m. the following day, after 11 hours and 50 minutes travel time. On the return, flights will depart at 9:25 a.m. from Rome and arrive in Los Angeles at 1:35 p.m. Pacific Time, after 13 hours flight time.

The flight schedule was developed to provide Alitalia passengers with convenient connections between Rome and major Italian and European cities, as well as between LAX and important cities in the Southwestern United States.

Passengers flying to Rome from Los Angeles in Economy Class will be served complimentary hot Italian meals, wine and snacks. Passengers flying in Magnifica Class, Alitalia's long-haul business class, will experience the airline's new service offered in partnership with some of Italy's well-known brands, including blankets and pillows by Frette, and flatware and dishes designed by Richard Ginori. Menus will feature a different Italian region each season and meals will be paired with Italian wines selected by the Italian Sommelier Association.

Los Angeles will be Alitalia's seventh North American gateway, adding to Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York/JFK, Newark and Toronto. Alitalia offers service from Atlanta and Detroit through codeshare with its Sky Team partners, Delta Airlines and Northwest Airlines. For further information on Alitalia please visit www.alitalia.com.

LOS ANGELES, April 27, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE)