Sunday, September 24, 2017

Alitalia to restart India flights after a decade, Delhi-Rome daily from October 30

New Delhi:  Indians will soon have more flight choices to the west, particularly Europe, with greater capacity on these routes driving fares lower. Financially challenged Italian airline litalia  will restart flights to India after almost a decade. It will have a daily direct flights between Delhi and Rome from October 30 and offer three classes of travel — business, premium economy and economy.
Alitalia did not comment on its India plans, like will it expand operations to other cities here, despite repeated attempts.
The Italian airline "last flew from India in March 2008. They had six flights on the Mumbai-Milan sector and six flights on the Delhi-Milan sector — a total of 12 flights per week. It stopped flying India routes because of losses," said a senior official of a top Indian travel agency.
Cox & Kings' head (business travel) John Nair said: "The increase in direct connectivity between India and Europe is a boon for leisure and business travellers as this would reduce time spent on layovers and lead to an increase in demand for destinations across Europe. We are seeing a significant addition in connectivity between India and European points and this will also boost two-way tourism. Finally, this will also soften the air fares."
Alitalia is now an Etihad "airways partner" as the Abu Dhabi-based carrier had put money in it three years back and now is its single largest investor with 49% stake in Italian airline. Italy is examining how this airline can survive — similar to India looking at all possible options for Air India. Alitalia was privatized in 2008 and was state-owned till then like AI currently is.
23/09/17 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India
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