In September 2017, Qatar Airways purchased a 49% interest in Meridiana, adding to their repertoire of holdings in foreign airlines. Previous owner Alisarda is still holding on to 51% interest. Meridiana is Italy’s second largest carrier behind Alitalia, which is partly owned by Etihad Airways. Alitalia filed for administration last year, and Lufthansa and EasyJet. The intention of Qatar Airways’ acquisition was to bolster connectivity of Meridiana to the United States and other European Destinations.
At the time of the acquisition, H.E. Al-Baker said Meridiana would receive Boeing 737 MAXs ordered by Qatar Airways, and they could use 20, which are being delivered this quarter onwards.
The new brand and livery, Air Italy, was introduced earlier this year. Air Italy started flying from Milan to both Miami and New York earlier this month June.
Additionally, Air Italy would use 5 ex-Qatar Airways Airbus A330s to operate their long-haul routes for the moment, and next year, start leasing 30 Boeing 787s from Qatar Airways, which will be added to their fleet.
Air Italy Delhi Milan flights
Earlier this year, Air Italy made their new route announcements. At that point in time, they planned to introduce Milan Malpensa – Mumbai service from October 30, 2018, with 5 weekly A330-200 flights. The Mumbai flight will be operated as per the following schedule:
IG928 BOM0450 – 0920MXP 332 34567
IG927 MXP1420 – 0250(+1)BOM 332 23456
Now, the airline has also announced a Delhi Milan flight at the start of the winter schedule. The Delhi – Milan route is going to be also operated with the Airbus A330-200 aircraft, five times a week, starting October 28, 2018.
IG956 DEL0600 – 1030MXP 332 12356
IG955 MXP1600 – 0400(+1)DEL 332 12457
The new flight will operate from Delhi to Milan, every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
They have already loaded the flight for sale, and since these A330-200s are heading in from Qatar Airways, you should expect a much better product than the existing Air Italy one. There are some fantastic prices already put out, such as 28K INR in November.
Bottomline
This is great news for those who fly to Italy often, given this now becomes the fourth service from India to Italy and the third from Delhi which is directly flying to Milan. Air India already operates a service on their Boeing 787-8s to Rome/Milan, and Alitalia launched a service to Delhi a year back too. Jet Airways used to operate to Milan a long time back but pulled out long back from that route.
This is great news especially for my fashion buddies, who hop over to Milan all the time for their fashion beat.
What do you think of this new airline coming to Delhi? Excited much?
These low fares are for handbang only travelers. With one checked bag each way, the fares are around INR 35-36k – inline with full-service carriers to Europe. So not exactly a great offer unless you are traveling light for a short weekend trip!
Just a correction. This is third service to Italy from Delhi. You have mentioned Mumbai there.
@Saheel, Thank you. fixed it
You forgot to mention the Milan-Bangkok (MXP-BKK) route, starting in September. 😉
Is there enough India – Italy traffic to require so many flights between the 2 countries or are these folks who just connect onwards to other destinations from Delhi\Rome\Milan?
There is a family in Delhi who wish to connect to Italy at any given point of time and so there’s a provision accordingly