Air Italy's first Milan-Los Angeles flight takes-off

Air Italy’s first non-stop flight to Los Angeles was inaugurated today, taking off from Milan Malpensa at 1.00 pm, adding a third direct service to North America following last year’s launch of Milan-New York JFK and Milan-Miami.

The new Milan-Los Angeles IG943 service which will operate four times weekly was inaugurated by Air Italy's Chief Operating Officer, Rossen Dimitrov, who thanked SEA Aeroporti di Milano officials and gave a warm send off to the departing passengers and media representatives.

In celebration of this new service, there was a traditional cake and ribbon cutting ceremony as the departure of the A330 aircraft was marked with a celebratory water cannon.

Air Italy's Chief Operating Officer, Rossen Dimitrov, said: "With the opening of this new service to Los Angeles, Air Italy is proud to inaugurate its third North American route. This is an important season for Air Italy as we significantly expand our westbound options while fulfilling our mission to deliver an excellent and memorable passenger experience on board all of our flights with the introduction of Phase 2 of our new onboard service. Air Italy is revealing a completely new on board business product on this inaugural Milan – Los Angeles flight with a new food and beverage concept and dine on demand service.

“We are growing considerably in the North America market, increasing today our total weekly frequencies to 20. Our Summer 2019 capacity has more than 200.000 seats and we are aiming for load factors like last summer when we exceeded 90% as an average through the key summer months.

“Significantly, with the development of our new hub model at Milan Malpensa, we are already seeing on our New York and Miami routes more than 50% of customers flying with Air Italy from the United States via Milan, to Rome, Naples, Sicily, Calabria and Sardinia – and we expect this to continue with our new routes.”

“After a record-breaking year that has seen a sensational increase in air traffic, it is with great satisfaction that we continue on our path of growth together with our partners.

The introduction of this new destination (Los Angeles), a flight operated by Air Italy, further expands an already extensive portfolio of routes, with a route to the United States that had been missing at this airport for a long 17 years, in spite of a potential market in Northern Italy of about 200,000 passengers/year”, says Andrea Tucci, SEA’s Aviation Business Development Manager. “An investment of this entity by an Italian carrier at the airport of Milan Malpensa sends a very strong message. We have worked hard to improve the airport in terms of the infrastructure’s quality and the introduction of this new destination is an accomplishment that encourages us to continue to provide the best quality of service to all those carriers that have chosen Milan Malpensa”.

Visit California President & CEO Caroline Beteta said: “The new Air Italy non-stop flights from Milan are a valuable opportunity for California to welcome more Italian travelers, not only in the iconic gateway cities of Los Angeles and San Francisco, but across the Golden State. Families, honeymooners and road trippers alike can make their travel dreams come true as they embark on hundreds of awe-inspiring itineraries up and down the state, after taking advantage of easier overseas travel.”

Air Italy’s next and fourth US service to be inaugurated will be the four-times weekly service between Milan and San Francisco, which will commence on April 10th with flights each Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday.

The new flights to Los Angeles are four times weekly (Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Monday) and are operated by Air Italy’s new Airbus 330-200 offering 24 seats in Business and 228 in Economy class.

All international flights to and from Milan Malpensa, including the new LAX service, can connect with domestic flights served by Air Italy between Milan and central and southern Italy, namely Rome, Naples, Palermo, Catania, Lamezia Terme, Cagliari and Olbia.

Summer 2019 - Timetable North America

Milan Malpensa – Los Angeles – Milan Malpensa

(Wednesday, Friday, Sunday, Monday)

Milan (MXP) – Los Angeles (LAX) IG943 departure 1:00 pm arrival 04:50 pm

Los Angeles (LAX) - Milan (MXP) IG944 departure 06:50 pm arrival 03:55 pm (+1 day)

Milan Malpensa – San Francisco – Milan Malpensa

(Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Tuesday)

Milan (MXP) – San Francisco (SFO) IG937 departure 01:35 pm arrival 05:10 pm

San Francisco (SFO) - Milan (MXP) IG938 departure 07:10 pm arrival 04:05 pm (+1 day)

Milan Malpensa – New York JFK – Milan Malpensa

(Daily)

Milan (MXP) – New York (JFK) IG901 departure 01:15 pm arrival 04:40 pm

New York (JFK) - Milan (MXP) IG902 departure 08:30 pm arrival 10:50 am (+1 day)

Milan Malpensa – Miami – Milan Malpensa

(Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday – From May 1st, + Thursday)

Milan (MXP) – Miami (MIA) IG969 departure 12:55 am arrival 05:10 pm

Miami (MIA) - Milan (MXP) IG968 departure 07:10 pm arrival 11:05 am (+1 day)

All flights connect with: Rome (FCO), Naples (NAP), Lamezia Terme (SUF), Palermo (PMO), Catania (CTA), Olbia (OLB) and Cagliari (CAG)