Italian Airlines News

Although a small airline with only three 737s, rumor has it that Alitalia has already ordered two more. If this turns out to be true, it'll be one of the more ambitious expansion schemes.

It turns out the rumors were true, Alitalia has ordered two more Boeing 737-300s with the possibility of another 3. They have stated that they plan to run a 737 only fleet, although a regional airline akin to Air Canada Jazz is under consideration. Alitalia didn't mention any specifics, but most airlines that run such a system use Bombardier and Embraer RJs, so we wouldn't be surprised to see that here too.

In other news, Alitalia has new competition on it's most profitable route, the sky is blue and the sun is hot.

Alitalia has taken delivery of it's two 737s and they have already been put into service bringing the number of flights and destinations up to 30. The number of passengers has also increased dramatically, on par with Air Canada, the 4th airline in terms of value.

Alitalia has stated that it will forgo their three optional 737s "in order to deliberate on the future composition of it's fleet." While that's all they said, it's not hard to decrypt that they may be reconsidering their 737 fleet, possibly in favor of more diverse destinations using smaller planes.

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Alitalia has announced that they have ordered 5 new planes, to be received within the month. This would double the size of the Alitalia fleet, and not with any old slouch planes, but with an Avro RJ85 and four Fokker 100s.

Alitalia also announced that they will this infusion of aircraft to expand to a new European hub, although they refused to mention where they were expanding too.

Alitalia will soon acquire the last of it's 5 plane expansion, at which time they will all be placed on routes out of Alitalia's new hub at Munich Airport.

Alitalia has successfully placed it's 5 new planes on routes, mainly out of it's new hub at Munich. The DOC has more than doubled from $2,450,000 to $5,200,000 and the airline now carries 15,283 passengers ranking it 6th in that regard.

Alitalia has received 3 more Fokker 100s with 2 more expected within the month. They have used the 3 Fokkers to expand into Madrid although they have stated that they will stop opening new hubs, at least for the time being, instead opting to invest in smaller planes and airports. Alitalia has ordered a BAe ATP to try out the plane and see if it's worth further investment for it's regional division. Also being considered are the ATR 72-200 and the Saab 2000. They are eager to find the most profitable plane and are open to opinions from other airlines.

The last 2 Fokkers have been placed on routes out of Madrid as has the BAe ATP. They said they were fairly happy with it, but the Saab 2000 offered more. They subsequently ordered 8 Saab 2000s to received in about a month.

Italian Airlines has announced that they have ordered 2 more Saab 2000s and 5 more Fokker 100s. In total, that adds up to 15 planes to be delivered within the month.