Aeroitalia is launching a new base in Ancona, in the Italian region of Marche. The news come as the airline had the only bid in three public tenders for public service obligation (PSO) flights of “continuità territoriale” (territorial continuity) connecting the city to Milan/Linate, Naples and Rome/Fiumicino.
The first PSO flights, according to the public tenders, are expected to start in September 1st. The domestic destinations from Ancona are already loaded in Aeroitalia’s website, although not yet on sale.
With the aircraft already stationed in Ancona for the PSO flights, the airline will also start other routes, which will connect the city in central Italy to Barcelona, Bucharest/Băneasa and Vienna.
The international routes from Ancona are already for sale, starting from September 15th. Barcelona will be served twice-weekly, on Mondays and Fridays; Bucharest will be available on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays; and Vienna on Wednesdays and Sundays.
All routes will be flown by an ATR 72-600 wet leased from Air Connect, the Romanian start-up airline which has had a partnership with the Italian airline for around a year. The turboprop is configured with 68 seats, and as per the latest schedule, another ATR will continue to fly Aeroitalia’s shuttle connecting Milan/Bergamo and Rome/Fiumicino.
Having made its first regular flight a year ago, Aeroitalia currently operates a fleet of five Boeing 737-800 in its AOC. Given opportunities that it found in the past year, it has been extensively making use of wet lease agreements, where the lessor provides the aircraft, crews, maintenance and insurance.
Besides one of Air Connect’s ATR 72-600, Aeroitalia wet leases a 737-700 operated by HelloJets, also from Romania.
In an interview to Avionews last month, Aeroitalia’s CEO, Professor Gaetano Intrieri, mentioned the airline was in the final steps of acquiring Air Connect.
“We want to really reinforce our presence in the regional market. […] The idea is that Air Connect becomes Aeroitalia’s regional [operator]. We are thus aiming at expanding also in this segment, where there is much less competition”.
