Alitalia resumes service to Boston

Today, March 12, 2018, Alitalia is resuming its seasonal service to Boston from Rome-Fiumicino Airport. The Italian carrier briefly stops service to Boston for the months of January and February. The route will be operated on Monday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday on an Airbus A330-200. This will be an interesting year for Alitalia as its financial woes continue because of recent developments with Air Italy. Qatar Airways, acquired a 49% stake in Meridiana, a privately owned Italian airline, and rebranded the airline as Air Italy. The airline will grow rapidly, by receiving many ex-Qatar Airways A330-200s and later Boeing 787-8s. Its hub will be in Milan-Malpensa Airport to reduce competition with Alitalia's in Rome-Fiumicino. Air Italy hopes to tap into the more profitable business market of Milan compared to Rome, which relies more on tourists. By doing this, the airline hopes to push Alitalia completely bankrupt and become the flag carrier of Italy. A possible route for Air Italy is Milan-Malpensa to Boston, as it is an untapped European business market that could likely have enough demand for a flight. I really hope to see Alitalia flying to Boston for years to come, but as their financial situation worsens and Air Italy continues to expand, their time might be limited.

Comments

  1. NLOMarch 13, 2018 at 1:45 AM

    Isn't there enough room for both carriers? Of course, if Alitalia goes belly up, this will be a moot question.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Boston AviationMarch 13, 2018 at 6:06 PM

      It is unknown. The Rome and Milan markets are different. Milan would take away more business traffic, but it would probably affect airlines like Air France and British Airways more than Alitalia because Boston to Milan via Rome is a less efficient routing. Boston to Rome is a large market, but if the prices of Boston to Rome via Milan on Air Italy are better than those of Alitalia, that could push Alitalia out of Boston.

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