Italian flag carrier Alitalia is to inaugurate flights to World Routes host city Abu Dhabi before the end of this year after formalising a codeshare arrangement with United Arab Emirates (UAE) national carrier Etihad Airways on the proposed link from Rome Leonardo da Vinci (Fiumicino) Airport. The new four times weekly service is due to commence on December 1, 2012, subject to government approvals, and will be flown using an Airbus A330.
This will be Alitalia’s first long-term scheduled route programme at Abu Dhabi International Airport and will complement the existing flights of Etihad Airways to Milan Malpensa. The SkyTeam alliance member has previously served the Emirati city for a limited period with flights between December 1996 and March 1997 and up until November 2008 had also served Dubai.
Under the terms of the agreement between Alitalia and Etihad Airways, the latter’s ‘EY’ code will be displayed on the flights as well as onward Alitalia services from Rome to Venice and the Swiss city of Zurich. It already has its code on the Italian carrier’s flights Rome to Milan, Frankfurt, Munich, Geneva and Athens. For Alitalia the partnership will enable it to offer new flight options to its passengers via the wide Etihad network from its Abu Dhabi International Airport hub with its code continuing to be placed on flights to Bahrain, Muscat, Johannesburg, Bangkok, Melbourne and Sydney.
"The launch of this important new route is the next step in a successful collaboration which we started in 2009 with Etihad Airways,” said Andrea Ragnetti, Chief Executive Officer, Alitalia. The new Rome-Abu Dhabi route will allow both companies to offer their passengers a new direct service and in particular for Alitalia passengers from Rome, it will further open the doors to exceptional business and tourist destinations around the world on Etihad Airways' network.”
Etihad Airways made its debut in the Italian market in September 2007 and boosted frequencies on its Abu Dhabi – Milan route to a daily service from June last year. In 2011, an estimated 397,000 O&D passengers travelled between Italy and UAE with around 13.5 per cent of passengers flying to Abu Dhabi and around 86.3 per cent via Dubai. In the first six months of this year an estimated 5,000 O&D passengers travelled between Abu Dhabi and Rome via indirect air services.
"The ties between the UAE and Italy have never been stronger, and one of our key objectives all along was to provide our passengers with a direct service to Rome,” added James Hogan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Etihad Airways. ““We signed our initial codeshare with Alitalia back in December 2009, and it has been a great success. Extending the deal now to cover direct Rome-Abu flights is a natural next step.”
Meanwhile, as first reported by The HUB last month (see ‘RAK Airways to Introduce Domestic UAE Link’) Etihad Airways has entered into a codeshare arrangement with RAK Airways to introduce its ‘EY’ code on the carrier’s new domestic air services between Abu Dhabi and Ras Al Khamiah that launch on October 3, 2012. In return, RAK Airways will place its ‘RT’ code on Etihad Airways’ routes, initially including flights between Abu Dhabi and London Heathrow, Manchester, Dublin, Bangkok and Geneva.
“We are proud to welcome RAK Airways, a fellow UAE airline, as a codeshare partner. This is the first time Etihad Airways will have its ‘EY’ code on a domestic UAE flight which is an exciting milestone for us,” said Peter Baumgartner, Chief Commercial Officer, Etihad Airways.
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