New Delhi, Oct 30 (PTI) After a gap of nine years,Italian airline Alitalia has re-started direct flights toIndia with service connecting the national capital and Rome.
The daily flight service would be operated with a 250-seater Airbus 330 aircraft. The first flight from here tookoff today.
"Alitalia is flying back to India after a nine-yearabsence with a new direct service between Delhi and Romeoperated every day for the whole winter season until March 24,2018," the carrier said in a release.
The airline's Chief Commercial Officer Fabio Lazzerinisaid India represents a unique opportunity to positionourselves in a country which is already becoming more and moreimportant.
In 2015, over 4.26 lakh travellers from India arrived inItaly, as per official data from Italy.
"From a cultural and tourist point of view also, we havethousands of years of history... This is why we are re-investing in the country and we are back. We could have beenback earlier than this but better late than never," he said.
According to the airline, the decision to launch theservice between Delhi and Rome was taken to meet theincreasing demand for flights between the two countries andwould also help strengthen bilateral trade relations.
"All classes feature on board wi-fi connectivity forphone calls, Internet and e-mail," it added.
In the 2017-2018 winter schedule, Alitalia would beflying to 74 destinations, including 20 Italian and 54international ones, with over 3,300 weekly flights.
Since May this year, the airline is operating underextraordinary administration and the Italian government hasappointed three commissioners to manage the company.
The Italian government has provided a bridge loan of 900million euros at market interest rates and would be repaidwithout involving disbursement by Italian taxpayers, accordingto the release. PTI DRR RAMMKJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.