ITA Airways took its first Airbus A350 aircraft in May 2022.
ITA Airways has signed a cabin retrofit agreement with Airbus Services to upgrade its fleet of six Airbus A350-900 aircraft with new premium economy class sections.
Airbus' services business will work with ITA Airways’ team on installing the new sections in the cabins over the next year. Completion of the project and redelivery of the upgraded aircraft are expected by mid-2024.
As part of the agreement, announced at Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg on June 7, Airbus will provide all service bulletins including engineering drawings, the kits required for the complete cabin and technical support during the duration of the contract. Airbus will also provide on-site expertise and support for the airline to guide their first shipset implementation.
In addition to installation of new seats, the project also will include related installation of one extra galley, class partitions, new lighting and cabling for in-seat-power and inflight entertainment functions, as well as modifications to overhead stowages, carpets and seat tracks.
Airbus says passenger service units on the six aircraft also will be reconfigured, including oxygen, reading lights and ventilation. Airbus will perform the necessary engineering load calculations for the new layout and update the aircraft’s weight and balance manuals.
Alessio Leone, head of CAMO (continuing airworthiness management organization) operations at ITA Airways, says: “This project also underscores the importance to us of the Airbus A350 in our widebody fleet strategy and the harmonization of these A350s with the brand new A330neos coming into our fleet. Both aircraft types will offer a four-class configuration: business, premium economy, comfort economy and economy.”
ITA Airways launched in October 2021 following the collapse of former Italian flag carrier Alitalia. It operates an all-Airbus fleet comprised of six A350s, four A220s, 50 A320-family aircraft and nine A330s.
Since its launch nearly two years ago, it has signed several maintenance-related arrangements, including Rolls-Royce TotalCare coverage for Trent XWB engines powering its A350 fleet. It received its first A350 in May 2022 on lease from Aviation Lease and Finance Co.
ITA Airways also signed up for Airbus’ Skywise Health Monitoring fleet performance tool, enabling it to access real-time data for its maintenance operations.
