The Largest Airlines In Italy By International Seat Availability

At the start of July, the European Commission gave Lufthansa the green light for its acquisition of Italian flag carrier ITA Airways. This move raised a number of questions, including the airline’s role in the group, its future growth strategy, and, in particular, how it will strengthen its network so that it posts a profit.

Italy has had a notoriously difficult history with its flag carriers. ITA Airways’ predecessor, Alitalia, was renowned for being heavily indebted, loss-making and relatively small compared to its European counterparts.

Indeed, Italy itself is no small market: the Italian air transport market, in terms of passengers carried, is comparable to that of France, for instance. Yet there is a key difference: ITA has a fairly minimal position in the overall market, while the French national carrier controls a larger share of the sector from its respective operations in France.

Photo: Dillon Shah | Simple Flying

Lufthansa

will focus on developing ITA’s intercontinental potential, particularly in Latin America and Africa. As this article will show, this long-haul focus is especially important considering the European low-cost stronghold on international flights to and from Italy. The following data was provided by Cirium, an aviation analytics company.

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A focus on North America, Latin America, and Africa is expected to dominate the carrier’s long-haul strategy.

5

Volotea

In fifth place is Spanish low-cost carrier, Volotea. The airline has done exceptionally well in recent years, growing from a very small, unknown carrier, to become a genuine threat to the larger low-cost airlines like Ryanair and easyJet. Volotea’s model is based on offering flights from medium-tier cities to other medium-tier cities that at present have no connections.

Photo: Cristian Storto | Shutterstock 

This model allows Volotea to avoid direct competition from larger premium carriers who operate from primary cities under a hub-and-spoke model. In the same way that Lufthansa operates from Frankfurt and Munich, ITA Airways operates from Rome and Milan.

This also means that often Volotea will differentiate itself from the likes of Ryanair and easyJet which typically connect larger cities (from their secondary airports) with small to medium-tier destinations. It has bases in eight medium-tier cities in Italy, including:

• Naples
• Olbia
• Bari
• Cagliari
• Florence
• Palermo
• Venice
• Verona

In other words, of Volotea’s 21 bases across Europe, nearly 40% are in Italy.

4

ITA Airways

ITA Airways

IATA/ICAO Code

AZ/ITY

Year Founded

2020

CEO

Fabio Lazzerini

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ITA Airways ranks quite low in this list, demonstrating just how little market share the airline actually has on what is an essential segment. On the domestic front too, ITA only comes in at second place, per 2023 data, with a 26% share.

Last year, ITA had an overall market share of just 9%. While on the international front ITA will offer double the number of seats compared to Volotea this year, it is still far behind the three airlines that top this list. This is bad news for the national airline, which—despite growing its network—is slowly but surely losing out.

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3

Wizz Air

Wizz Air

IATA/ICAO Code

W6/WZZ

Year Founded

2003

CEO

József Váradi

Hungarian ultra-low-cost airline Wizz Air comes in third place and offers a variety of flights from several places in Italy. Its bases include:

• Rome Fiumicino
• Milan Malpensa
• Catania
• Naples
• Venice Marco Polo

This summer is Wizz Air’s largest in Italy. In October, the carrier announced preparations to add four additional aircraft to its Italian operation, including three in Rome and one in Milan. All of them being Airbus A321neos, the carrier has risen to become a genuine threat to ITA Airways, particularly as its operation extends further East than other low-cost carriers.

Photo: Photofex_AUT | Shutterstock

For example this summer, Wizz Air announced new flights from Rome to Amman (Jordan), Cairo Sphinx and Sharm-el-Sheikh (Egypt), Baku (Azerbaijan) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia). Several of these are particularly notable as it limits the scope for future network expansion for ITA Airways. Indeed, it does not mean ITA Airways will be unable to operate there, but rather it makes it harder in the face of a strong, low-fare competitor like Wizz Air. It is also worth noting that out of these, ITA already operates to Cairo (International, not Sphinx) and Riyadh.

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Wizz Air first opened a base in Italy in 2020 and has since added in excess of 50 new and previously unserved routes, creating more than 1000 direct jobs. The October announcement, which included many other new routes not mentioned here, served to add 1,5 million seats to the yearly offering from Italy.

2

easyJet

easyJet

IATA/ICAO Code

U2/EZY (UK) |
EC/EJU (Europe) |
DS/EZS (Switzerland)

Year Founded

1995

CEO

Johan Lundgren

Just in front of Wizz Air lies easyJet, enjoying second place in the Italian market for international seats. It operates from an extensive number of cities in Italy, including (but not limited to):

• Turin
• Milan (Malpensa, Linate and Bergamo)
• Verona
• Venice (Marco Polo)
• Pisa
• Ancona
• Rome (Fiumicino)
• Salerno – Amalfi Coast
• Brindisi
• Lamezia Terme
• Catania
• Palermo
• Olbia
• Cagliari

1

Ryanair

Ryanair

IATA/ICAO Code

FR/RYR

Year Founded

1985

CEO

Eddie Wilson

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In the top spot is Ryanair. The low-cost giant is the most important player in the Italian aviation market, both in terms of domestic and international flights. It ranks first in both lists.

It is also worth noting just how much of a lead Ryanair has in terms of seat availability on the international scene from Italy. Compared to the runner-up, easyJet, Ryanair is offering nearly triple the amount of seats this year. More importantly, its lead compared to ITA Airways is significant, offering nearly five times as many seats in this segment.