Italy has many airlines which serve both domestic and international services.
Recent changes, with the loss of Alitalia and introduction of a new national airline (ITA Airways), plus the growth of other carriers like Aeroitalia, have changed the landscape.
Many of Italy’s airline compete against big international low-cost rivals like easyJet and Ryanair.
For enthusiasts, here’s a guide to the main airlines operating passenger and cargo services in 2024 which are based in Italy.
Aeroitalia
Colin Cooke Photo, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Aeroitalia was founded in 2022 with plans to serve European and long-haul destinations.
At present it only serves European services, as well as around 15 domestic destinations from its bases at Rome Fiumicino, Ancona, Bergamo and Comiso.
The airline has a fleet of Boeing 737-700/800 and ATR 72-600 aircraft.
Air Dolomiti
Fabrizio Berni (GFDL <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html> or GFDL <http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html>), via Wikimedia Commons
Air Dolomiti is a long standing Italian founded in 1989 to serve the northern region of the country around the Dolomites (Italian Alps).
Today it is a subsidiary of Lufthansa and operates flights on behalf of its Regional network, however its aircraft mostly operate in its own livery of turquiose on white.
Air Dolomiti is based at Verona, with hubs in Frankfurt and Munich. It’s fleet comprises around 20 Embraer 190 and 195 regional jets.
Cargolux Italia
Konstantin von Wedelstaedt (GFDL 1.2 <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html> or GFDL 1.2 <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/fdl-1.2.html>), via Wikimedia Commons
A subsidiary of the Luxembourg-based cargo and logistics airline, Cargolux Italia is based at Milan Malpensa airport and has a fleet of four Boeing 747-400 freighters.
These aircraft operate in a very similar livery to that of the parent carrier, with the addition of ‘Italia’ titles under the main title.
Cargolux Italia serves destinations all over the world.
ITA Airways
The national airline of Italy, which was founded and is part-owned by the Italia government, is ITA airways (or Italia Trasporto Aereo).
It was formed out of the ashes of Alitalia, which closed down in 2020 after many years of irrevocable losses.
The airline began operations with much of the Alitalia fleet, which was slowly painted into it own striking new blue livery.
Since then newer aircraft like the Airbus A220, A320neo, A321neo, A330neo and A350 have joined the existing A320 and A330 classics.
The airline has a wide reach of domestic, European and worldwide destinations, and is now 41% owned by Lufthansa.
Neos
Anna Zvereva from Tallinn, Estonia, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Neos is a part of the TUI leisure group of airlines, and its aircraft fly in their familiar livery of blues and reds.
It was founded in 2001 and today has a mixed fleet of Boeing 737-800, MAX 8 and 787 Dreamliner aircraft which operate out of bases across Italy to traditional European holiday destinations as well as long-haul points.
Poste Air Cargo
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Poste_Italiane_-_Mistral_Air_-_Boeing_737-4Q8_-_Tel_Aviv_Ben_Gurion_-_EI-ELZ-1229.jpg
Poste Air Cargo is a cargo airline based at Brescia and Rome Fiumicino which operates services on behalf of Poste Italiane, the national post office.
This company was originally the passenger carrier Mistral Air, but now only flies freight services. It has a fleet of 5 Boeing 737-400 and a single ATR 72-500.
Sky Alps
Sky Alps was founded in 2020 as a regional carrier serving the South Tyrol region, with a base at Bolzano.
Today it flies to destinations in Germany, Austria and Bosnia, with many more seasonal links associated with inbound tourism for the Italian ski season.
The airline operates six DHC-8-400 turboprops, with more due.
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