Eithad Airways, which has gained final EU clearance to become a 49% owner in Italian carrier ALITALIA, will expand its Italian operations from March 2015.  Etihad Airways presently offers daily A330 services from its Abu Dhabi hub to both Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa respectively and ALITALIA a single daily flight A330 flight from Rome to Abu Dhabi. Under the new agreement, ALITALIA will add its own  daily service from Milan Malpensa to Abu Dhabi using Boeing 777-200ER aircraft. In addition ALITALIA will add daily A330 services from Venice Marco Polo to Etihad’s hub. These new services remain subject to regulatory approval. Combined the two carriers will offer a total of 42 weekly services between Italy and Abu Dhabi. This will still trail competitor Emirates which offers 49 weekly services to Italy with three daily flights to both Rome and Milan and a single daily service to Venice.

Picture credit: ALITALIA  official Facebook page.