Aeroitalia has been on our focus here at Aviacionline since their start-up. They are putting up a sfida in the always harsh Italian market, even going against Ryanair in their home turf of Bergamo.

In any case, I’ve been wanting to fly with them since they started, especially because they claim to be different, for the better, from other airlines. Well, every airline claims that, but their investors managed to bring to the board a person who managed to be «different» and profitable in his ventures: Germán Efromovich.

Brazilian travelers like me remember with affection the services of Avianca Brasil; warm food onboard, cheap fares, cheerful service and screens onboard most aircraft. They only went bust because they went long-haul and couldn’t afford the losses. But they were marginally profitable while they kept it domestic.

Back to Aeroitalia, the European market is a whole different story, so I’m really interested if they can succeed here.

I was going home after my semester in Dublin and, after a night in Heathrow, I’d continue to Italy; in this pair of flights, I would be together with my partner. Luckily, the airline had just started their operations between Heathrow and Bergamo, so we could book with them.

Booking the flight was very easy and quick. Managing the booking on my own, however, was almost impossible.

Some days after I booked, Aeroitalia launched a flight from Heathrow to Florence, which for me would be much closer to home. I got in touch and Aeroitalia, in a measure of goodwill, change our reservations from Bergamo to Florence free of charge, on the same day. Not bad!

We got from our hotel (Renaissance) to the airport’s Terminal 4 with the HotelHoppa shuttle. From the bus stop, it was another five-minute walk and we got there.

XZ2112 LHR-FLR

In Heathrow, Terminal 4 is largely used by airlines from the Eastern hemisphere (such as Etihad, Gulf Air and Qatar) and most Skyteam players that are small in the airport (the likes of Korean Air, ITA Airways and TAROM), though if you ask me about the logic of terminal allocation there, I’d say it’s completely random.

Logical or not, Aeroitalia also flies from Terminal 4, and as we got to print our boarding passes — for Heathrow operations, Aeroitalia only does it online — there was basically no line. If everyone had to check in at the counter and there was no one in sight, then it seemed like the flight would be empty.

A quick peep at the flights from T4 that day:

Safety clearance taking no more than five minutes, we were in front of the gate in just a while.

The flight, however, had left Florence with some delay, so it was only at 13h36, eleven minutes after scheduled departure, that boarding was cleared.

This flight, however, was really empty, so boarding would be lightning quick. Only 31 passengers would be onboard the 737-800, which has 189 seats. I think it’s the emptiest flight I’ve ever been in.

The second-emptiest flight I can remember being in was a flight back in 2016 from Porto Alegre to Campinas, when we were 29 passengers — but it was onboard an Embraer 195 with 118 seats.

For today’s flight, we would be onboard a road warrior — and for our readers from Argentina, one that is quite familiar.

According to Planespotters.net, 9H-FRA was originally delivered to South African Airways as ZS-SJI on January 2001. Ten years later, the aircraft moved to Malaysia, initially operating for Firefly and, only some months on, for Malaysia Airlines as 9M-FFD.

In 2017, -FFD was transferred to Argentina, being Andes Líneas Aéreas’ first Boeing 737, registered LV-GWL, kicking off its disastrous expansion phase. A year later, the airplane was returned to the lessor.

Another year on and the airframe was leased to Italy’s Blue Panorama Airlines, with the Maltese registration it still keeps to date. The pandemic came and ruined the airline, with 9H-FRA being again returned to its owner.

Aeroitalia started up its operations in 2022, and this airplane was the fourth to join its fleet.

But despite the long track record it had, 9H-FRA was incredibly well-kept for a 20-year-old airframe. The leather seats were quite good and comfortable.

As soon as we got to our seats, though, the crew asked us to move to an emergency exit, something we happily accepted.

Now legroom was more than enough!

As expected, boarding was indeed very quick, and at 13h48 doors were closed; in three minutes we started pushback. Safety instructions then followed.

While we taxied, some Heathrow sights. Not many airports where you can witness such diversity of airlines from all over the world.

Captain Giuseppe Bartoletti then went to the PA system to apologize for the delay, explaining that a strong headwind did not help them after departing from Florence. He nevertheless added that we were number five for take-off from runway 27R.

At 14h09, 9H-FRA lined up at the runway. Since we were empty and the flight wasn’t particularly long, we took off easily.

After departure, we executed a left turn, heading towards continental Europe as we climbed to our cruising altitude of 41,000 feet.

Soon after that, the crew started onboard service. I was quite surprised that they did not provide complimentary snacks (although they had never promised it in the first place). Instead, they went with the crowd and, as everyone does in Europe, charged for the bites.

And since I was returning to Italy, we tried doing an aperitivo at 41,000 feet. The prices were fair, and catering is provided by Dnata, which also supplied the payment terminal. Surprisingly, though, the terminal didn’t support contactless payment.

It helped that the flight was empty. So the crew got to us really quickly and, when they did, we had a really cool chat about the airline, its plans and its future.

Purser Valerio Russo — who also happened to be the airline’s chief flight attendant — spoke to us, and he seemed truly excited about the Aeroitalia project. He said that most of his colleagues came from failed airlines. He, for instance, came from Meridiana/Air Italy, and he added that this startup had given them a new chance in the industry after some horrific years for Italian aviation.

They couldn’t be more professional, and they all looked really motivated to be there, trusting that Aeroitalia could give them, once again, pride to work for an Italian airline. And after our talk, they gave us a bottle of prosecco as a gift.

I spent the rest of the flight talking with my partner. This time the wind helped us and, as soon as we started flying over Italy, our descent towards Florence was started.

It’s a shame that the day was cloudy, but nevertheless I was happy to be back to the country I’ve been calling home for the last two years.

At 16h44, 24 minutes after scheduled arrival, we made a relatively smooth landing in Florence’s runway. While the aircraft was empty, it braked firmly through the airport’s short runway, and we heard someone’s iPad travel the cabin as 9H-FRA slowed down.

In only a few minutes, we were parking in the apron. We also passed in front of YR-BMR, the 737-700 Aeroitalia has wet leased to help its operations in Florence.

Deboarding was really fast, and we quickly waved goodbye to the crew as the bus was waiting for us to return to the terminal.

9H-FRA would then proceed to Rome/Fiumicino on a ferry flight, and then proceed to its last flight of the day, in Aeroitalia’s shuttle between Fiumicino and Bergamo.

And as we made our way to the bus station, I read on Twitter that Aeroitalia would be halting its Heathrow-Florence flights, with the last flight being operated a week later. Quite unbelievable as that was only the second rotation of this route. On a LinkedIn discussion, CEO Gaetano Intrieri said the retreat in the airport was due to lack of space for basing aircraft there.

Final remarks

At least we were lucky our flight was not cancelled. Seriously, though: if Aeroitalia can keep their good fares, this nice service and their fantastic staff, there is plenty to be optimistic about.

Italy is such a large country (and one with such demand for inbound tourism) that I am sure it can accommodate their own local airlines. However, they have to be well run if they want to survive the tough competition that has been around in Europe since the 1990s.

With their «maniac» focus on cost, a description courtesy of their CEO on an interview with TTG Italia, Aeroitalia might just be the next big story in Italian aviation; in the same article, he claimed the airline had a profit of «almost» EUR3 million in its first semester of operations.

But they still have plenty of room to improve; their snap changes in network with a very short notice can very reasonably anger many passengers. But if they keep this in check towards the next Summer season, Aeroitalia will be working on a very solid — and promising — base.