Italy's ITA selects Airbus for comprehensive fleet renewal

ITA - Italia Trasporto Aereo (Milan Linate) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for twenty-eight Airbus aircraft, including ten A330neo, eleven A320neo, and seven A220s, and will lease at least another 56 aircraft, including A350-900s.

The first aircraft from the order are scheduled for delivery towards the end of the first quarter of 2022. The airline did not disclose a detailed delivery timeline but said that as it doubles its fleet from 52 to105 aircraft by 2025, it is targetting a 70% share of new-generation aircraft by the end of that period.

Among the total pool of 56 leased aircraft, 13 will be widebody and 43 narrowbody units. At least 31 aircraft will come from Air Lease Corporation, including A220s and A320neo. The firm said it expects to be the "launch lessor" for ITA. The carrier said it hopes to limit the number of lessors to just six across its entire fleet. In comparison, the ch-aviation fleets ownership module shows that Alitalia currently dry-leases 69 out of its 80 aircraft from a total of 13 lessors: ALC Blarney Aircraft, AerCap, Aergo Capital, Air Lease Corporation, Avolon, Castlelake, DAE Capital, Deucalion Aviation, ICBC Financial Leasing, MD Aviation Capital, ORIX Aviation, Subho, and Voyager Aviation.

The new Italian state-owned carrier will replace loss-making Alitalia on October 15, 2021. It will take over 52 of Alitalia's current aircraft as an interim solution pending the delivery of the new-generation aircraft. While ITA has not confirmed this, local media have reported that this batch of aircraft will comprise seventeen A319-100s, twenty-seven A320-200s, and seven A330-200s, plus a single E190 inherited from regional carrier Airbus Canada.

Alitalia operates mainly Airbus aircraft but also has ten B777-200ERs, as well as ten E175s and five E190s operated by Alitalia CityLiner. While ITA contemplated splitting its order between manufacturers, with one delivering narrowbody aircraft and the other widebodies, it ultimately chose to work exclusively with Airbus as its strategic partner.