Since the Italian government shut down Alitalia in October 2020, ITA Airways has been Italy’s flag carrier. Replacing the Alitalia brand, ITA Airways operates an extensive short-haul network within Italy and the rest of Europe from its hubs in Milan and Rome. It also serves a handful of long-haul destinations across North America, South America and Asia.

In case you’re wondering, the “ITA” of ITA Airways stands for Italia Trasporto Aereo – which is simply Italian for “Italy Air Transport”.

ITA Airways took over many of the aircraft, staff and airport slots of its predecessor. It also picked up Alitalia’s IATA code (AZ) and joined SkyTeam in 2020, filling the gap left by Alitalia’s exit. While ITA Airways has its own new blue aircraft livery, many planes are still painted in Alitalia colours – including the plane I recently flew on from Milan to Rome.

Connecting the airline’s two hubs, ITA Airways operates almost hourly flights between Milan’s Linate Airport and Rome Fiumicino Airport. In this review, find out what the experience is like flying on Italy’s busiest domestic route in ITA Airways Economy Class.

Flight Details

Flight number	AZ2037
Route	Milan-Linate (LIN) to Rome (FCO)
Aircraft type	Airbus A319
Class of travel	Economy
Seat number	7F
On-time performance	We arrived on time
Star rating

The route

Flight Cost

I booked an Economy Classic fare from Milan to Zurich via Rome at a cost of €137.25 (~AU$216) one-way. Economy Classic is the mid-tier fare category which includes a checked bag and fee-free ticket changes.

If you were just flying from Milan to Rome, tickets start from around €54 (~AU$85) one-way for an Economy Light ticket.

Theoretically you should also be able to redeem miles with any SkyTeam airline to book an award seat on ITA Airways. But in practice, this airline’s SkyTeam membership seems to be more style over substance at the moment as most other SkyTeam members still don’t recognise ITA Airways!

Before the flight, I received several emails (in Italian, even though I made my booking in English) inviting me to bid for an upgrade on both flights. The minimum bid to upgrade to “Superior” class on the Milan-Rome flight was €90 (~AU$141). I did not place a bid.

Airport Experience

There are two major airports in Milan. Malpensa is the larger of the two and handles all of the long-haul international flights. ITA Airways only has one flight from Malpensa (to New York), and the rest of its operations in Milan are based at Linate Airport which is much closer to the city.

Thanks to the opening of the new M4 metro line, getting from Linate Airport to downtown Milan is now particularly quick and easy.

Like many AFF members, I took advantage of the ITA Airways Volare status match a while ago to obtain “Club Premium” status with the airline’s frequent flyer program. This was my first time flying with ITA Airways and I was keen to find out what benefits I would receive as a Club Premium member.

For check-in, I had no trouble accessing the “Sky Priority” line. Although, in hindsight, it was a quiet morning at Linate Airport and the regular queue was probably shorter. There was only one priority check-in counter open and the staff member there wasn’t in a hurry.

At the time of booking, the seats towards the back of the plane were available to select for free. But the seats closer to the front would have cost an extra €13 (~AU$20) to select.

My flight was less than half-full and most of the front seats were still unallocated, so I asked at check-in if I could switch to row 7. The staff member obliged, although I’m not sure if this is something everyone could ask for or just Volare members. As an added benefit, as I discovered later, the “front seats” also have a bit more legroom. (This is because they could also be used as Business Class seats on some flights, with the middle seat converted into a fold-out table.)

The fast-track security lane at Linate Airport was open to Business Class as well as Volare Premium and Executive passengers flying with ITA Airways.

It took longer to walk through the duty-free maze at Linate Airport than it did to clear security, and I was soon welcomed into the ITA Airways lounge “Piazza Della Scala”. (Again, this was a status perk but you could also get in with a Business/Superior Class ticket.)

This is one of just three ITA Airways Lounges that the airline operates itself (the other two are in Rome). It was not a particularly large space, but there were plenty of spare seats as well as toilets and showers. It was absolutely fine for a regional lounge.

The highlight of the lounge was perhaps the bar, where there was an impressive selection of drinks including spirits and Italian wines available. There was also an excellent Italian espresso machine for all your caffeine-related needs.

There was no hot food at the buffet, but there were various cold pastas, fruit and salad items available. There was also a nice selection of Italian cakes. COVID-19 protocols were still in place here, so the buffet was not self-service – you needed to ask a staff member to pass you something.

When I visited the ITA Airways lounge in Rome later in my trip, the exact same food and drinks were available.

There was a good view over the airfield from the lounge. Another ITA Airways aircraft in the new livery was parked just outside the window.

Boarding began half an hour before the scheduled departure time and was completed in around 10 minutes. There was a priority boarding lane and the whole process was quite efficient.

The Hard Product

ITA Airways doesn’t seem to have done much with the interior of its ex-Alitalia aircraft, other than changing the headrest covers. The outside of the plane was still in Alitalia colours but there was a sign next to the door that said “Operated by ITA Airways”.

This particular Airbus A319 was 18 years old and was showing its age a little (e.g. with the buttons on the armrests) but was otherwise fine. The leather Recaro seats are perfectly comfortable for short-haul flights and the legroom in row 7 was good.

It looked like there used to be a TV screen and perhaps also a credit card reader on the back of the seat in front, but these have been filled in.

There was no wifi or in-flight entertainment of any sort – not even a magazine in the seat pocket.

The Soft Product

It’s now been more than a year since the Alitalia brand was retired. I can understand that it takes a while to repaint all the planes, but I was a bit surprised to find that the flight attendants were all wearing Alitalia uniforms and name tags as well!

In the past, it seemed like Alitalia’s management thought that new uniforms would solve the airline’s problems as they seemed to change them every few years. My initial thought when I saw the crew wearing Alitalia uniforms is that the new ITA Airways management team may have better cost discipline. But don’t despair, more new uniforms are apparently on the way!

During the flight, all passengers were offered a complimentary non-alcoholic drink (tea, coffee, water, juice or a soft drink) and a small chocolate. No other food or drinks were available for purchase.

The service on this flight seemed to be slightly reduced as it was a short domestic flight. As a matter of interest, there was an additional choice of a sweet or salty snack on my following international flight from Rome to Zurich.

Before landing, a crew member asked me to remove my headphones for safety reasons. It’s been a while since I’ve been asked to do this, but this seems to be standard procedure on ITA Airways.

Matt Graham

The editor of Australian Frequent Flyer, Matt's passion for travel has taken him to over 90 countries… with the help of frequent flyer points, of course!
Matt's favourite destinations (so far) are Germany, Brazil & Kazakhstan. His interests include aviation, economics & foreign languages, and he has a soft spot for good food and red wine.

You can connect with Matt by posting on the Australian Frequent Flyer community forum and tagging @AFF Editor.