ITA Airways (AZ, Rome Fiumicino) has taken delivery of its first A220-100, deploying it into commercial service on the restricted and high-yielding Milan Linate-London City route almost immediately.
EI-HLA (msn 50068) was ferried directly from Montréal Mirabel to Rome Fiumicino on October 31-November 1, 2023. Flightradar24 ADS-B data shows it was then repositioned to Linate on November 2 and operated its first revenue flight to London City on November 3. So far, the aircraft has only been used on this route. It is configured for up to 125 passengers in a single-class layout.
ITA Airways has six more A220-100s on direct order from Airbus. The airline is only the third operator of the variant globally, following Swiss and Delta Air Lines. It also operates seven A220-300s on lease from Air Lease Corporation with plans to add a further nine of the type from the same lessor. The -300 is not certified to operate at London City airport.
Prior to EI-HLA's delivery, ITA Airways had wet-leased an E190 from Eastern Airways (T3, Humberside) to operate the London City route. The up to 3x daily route can be flown with a single aircraft.
