ITA Airways, the national airline of Italy, has just put its newest transatlantic route on sale, which will represent the carrier’s first route to Canada.
ITA Airways will fly from Rome to Toronto
As of May 10, 2024, ITA Airways will launch flights between Rome (FCO) and Toronto (YYZ). The service will initially operate 6x weekly, before operating daily as of June 1, 2024. The flight will have the following schedule:
AZ650 Rome to Toronto departing 10:15AM arriving 2:05PM
AZ651 Toronto to Rome departing 5:15PM arriving 7:50AM (+1 day)
The 4,415-mile flight is blocked at 9hr50min westbound and 8hr35min eastbound. ITA Airways intends to use an Airbus A330 for the route, with some frequencies operated by the A330-200, and others operated by the A330-900neo. The latter features a far superior hard product, so I’d recommend booking that if at all possible.
How this fits into ITA Airways’ route network
Toronto will be ITA Airways’ first destination in Canada, and complements the carrier’s seven destinations in the United States, including Boston (BOS), Chicago (ORD), Los Angeles (LAX), Miami (MIA), New York (JFK), San Francisco (SFO), and Washington (IAD).
As of now, ITA Airways is still in the SkyTeam alliance, and it’s possible to redeem Air France-KLM Flying Blue miles and Virgin Atlantic Flying Club points for travel on the airline (other SkyTeam partners don’t seem to have access to the same space). However, keep in mind that Lufthansa Group intends to acquire ITA Airways, in which case the airline will likely eventually join Star Alliance.
As it currently stands, ITA Airways is taking a pretty independent approach to route planning. While the airline belongs to SkyTeam, it’s excluded from the SkyTeam transatlantic joint venture, which otherwise consists of Air France-KLM, Delta, and Virgin Atlantic.
At least ITA Airways does have some connectivity at US airports via Delta. The airline won’t have that same level of connectivity in Toronto, where the airline has no domestic partnerships. Who knows, maybe that will change over time, as I’m sure any of Air Canada’s competitors would be happy to partner with ITA.
Bottom line
Toronto will become ITA Airways’ first destination in Canada, complementing the carrier’s service to seven destinations in the United States. The new flight is already on sale, so it’s nice to see more options for Canadian travelers. ITA Airways is expanding nicely… I’m just curious to see what the future holds for the carrier’s ownership.
What do you make of ITA Airways’ expansion to Toronto?
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