New Italian Airline Files for US Flight Permission

Italia Transport Aereo (ITA), the new Italian carrier set to replace Alitalia in October, has filed for permission with the U.S. Department of Transportation to conduct flights to the United States.

The story was first reported by the aviation blog Simple Flying.

ITA is looking at initially launching four long-haul routes from Milan and Rome, but is apparently entering the market slowly. Initially, the carrier plans to fly one route from Milan to New York. The other three routes will fly out of Rome to New York, Boston and Miami, respectively.

According to Simple Flying, ITA then plans to roll out service next year to Washington D.C. and Los Angeles from Rome and, in 2023, to Chicago and San Francisco also from Rome.

ITA will also have opportunities to offer connections within Italy and into Europe if its short- and medium-haul plans pan out. However, the new airline, which starts flying on Oct. 15, currently does not have a U.S. partner for passengers to connect elsewhere once they reach New York, Boston or Miami.

Alitalia Airlines, one of the biggest international brand names out of Europe and Italy’s national airline for 75 years, stopped taking reservations earlier this week and will shutter on October 15.

The news has been known for a while as Alitalia has struggled financially for decades, and was put into state administration in 2017.

According to Euronews, ITA will buy 52 of Alitalia’s aircraft alongside its airport slots and other assets. It plans to operate flights to destinations including New York, Boston, Miami, Tokyo and numerous European cities from airports in Rome and Milan. There are plans for the airline to slowly grow its fleet to 105 planes by 2025.