Tag Archives: Milan

Air Italy has inaugurated its first non-stop flight from New Delhi to Milan recently. Apart from it, the airline will start three-times weekly direct operations from to the city from Mumbai from December 14. India is the fourth international addition to the airline’s expanding network, following the successful commencement of operations to New York (JFK), Miami (MIA) and Bangkok (BKK) earlier this year. Offering 24 fully reclining flatbed seats in Business Class and 228 seats in Economy Class, Air Italy’s new Delhi service offers connections to New York and Miami as well as domestically across Italy. Italy is the second European destination for Indians travelling to Europe in terms of tourism, as compared to other countries, and this route has been a long-standing request from local authorities, leisure travellers and various trade organisations. Speaking at a press conference, Rossen Dimitrov, Chief Operating Officer, Air Italy, stated, “The launch of our India-Italy sector represents another major step forward for Air Italy and reinforces our commitment to our network expansion plans in Asia. Our average load factor on both routes for the first month is already at around 70 per cent, which is well within our business plan expectations and will only continue to grow now that operations have commenced. “India is a fascinating and dynamic destination and is a significant base for business and tourism. We are delighted to welcome Delhi as a part of our global network and look forward to providing more flexibility of travel choices to our customers, contributing to this ongoing growth.”  

Air Italy has announced its entry into the Indian market, offering services from Delhi and Mumbai to Milan effective December 7 and December 14, 2018 respectively. Connecting Italy to two of the main business destinations in Asia, India will be the fourth international addition to the Air Italy network after the successful launch of its operations to New York, Miami and Bangkok from its new hub in Milan-Malpensa. Rossen Dimitrov, Chief Operating Officer, Air Italy said, “We look forward to the connection between Italy and two of the main business and tourist destinations in Asia – Mumbai and New Delhi. With the launch of our India operations in December, we are excited to offer newer routes and a wider travel option to the discerning travelers from India. Our new service will increase convenience for business guests, leisure travellers as well as students, travelling between India and Italy, further strengthening commerce as well as tourism ties between the two countries.” With the addition of the two new routes, Air Italy offers travellers a range of both domestic and international connectivity options from the airline’s hub and access to exclusive destinations. Passengers travelling from India to Milan will benefit from convenient connections via Malpensa to Italian key cities and destinations. Airbus A330-200 will be deployed for the two new routes from India to Milan, operating thrice a week from both cities.

In an effort to promote inbound tourism from important source markets, PATA India Chapter, in collaboration with Ministry of Tourism, will conduct India Tourism B2B Meet to Europe from September 25-October 4, 2018. Meetings are proposed to be held with travel agents and tours operators in Rome, Milan, Frankfurt, Barcelona, Geneva and Paris. The roadshow will commence with an introduction of sellers and a 15-minute Incredible India presentation, followed by a 5-minute product presentation by Air India. Each roadshow will have a two-hour B2B session between Indian sellers and local tour operators and travel agents. All these markets have a variety of travellers representing both high end as well as mid-market. Their interest in India as a preferred destination is well established over many years and is focused on its history, culture, wellness, beach tourism amongst others. Air India will support the association with preferred air fares for delegates participating in these roadshows. 100 per cent of the basic fare will be waived on each ticket as per the applicable booking class for such tickets. Participants will only be charged applicable taxes, fuel surcharge and government levies for travel. Authority for tickets will be issued on a first come first serve basis, only after full non-refundable participation fee has been paid by the participating organisation.    

As its first route to India, Air Italy is set to begin operations to Mumbai from October 31, 2018. The new service will operate between Mumbai and Milan with an Airbus A330-200, offering 24 flatbed seats in Business Class and 228 seats in Economy Class. This will be the Italy-based airlines’ fourth new international destination to be served from its Milan Malpensa hub. Air Italy will offer five weekly flights between Milan Malpensa and Mumbai and will be the only non-stop flight between Italy and Mumbai. This new route between Milan and Mumbai comes after the earlier announcements of new routes from Milan Malpensa to New York and Miami starting in June 2018 and to Bangkok starting from September 2018. The new service to Mumbai will operate the following schedule and is open for sale. Flight schedules are effective from October 31, 2018.  The Milan Malpensa (MXP) flight to Mumbai (BOM) IG 927 departs at 14:20 hrs and arrives at 02:50 hrs on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.  The Mumbai (BOM) to Milan Malpensa flight (MXP) IG 928 departs at 04:50 hrs and arrives at 09:20 hrs on the same days.

The Ministry of Tourism has decided to close its foreign offices at Los Angeles, Toronto, Sydney, Amsterdam, Paris, Milan and Johannesburg. Alphons Kannanthanam, Minister of State (I/C) for Tourism, confirmed the news saying that they will be closing a few international offices in the near future. According to an official release from the MOT, the ministry will open a new office at Moscow. Thus, the Ministry of Tourism will now have offices at New York, Dubai, Frankfurt, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, Singapore and London.