ROME -- Following a delivery ceremony that took place at the Airbus site in Mirabel, Canada, headquarters of the A220 Programme, in the presence of Francesco Presicce, Chief Technology Officer and Accountable Manager ITA Airways, Benoît Schultz, CEO, Airbus Canada,  Daniel Wenninger, Head of A220 Programme Office,  Wouter Van Wersch, Airbus Executive Vice President Region and Sales Europe and Walter Garrett, Chief Representative, Technical Asset MGT, the Airbus A220 performed a ferry flight to reach Rome Fiumicino where it will complete the preparatory tests for its entry into operation.

 Named after the Italian football legend Alessandro Mazzola, the Airbus A220-300 is the first of its kind to be fully configured according to ITA Airways' new cabin design, with brand-new interiors designed by Walter De Silva. "Today we add to our fleet the first Airbus A220, completely built according to the new cabin design and the ultimate expression of ‘Made in Italy,’" said Presicce. 

"The A220 will allow the company to enhance its domestic and international network and represents a further step in our strategy of building a new fuel efficient and more sustainable fleet with leading-edge technologies which will optimize efficiency, quality of service and significantly reduce the airline carbon footprint. With the arrival of the Airbus A321neo by the end of this year, the ITA Airways fleet will include all the latest generation Airbus aircraft families,”  Presicce congratulated the staff of ITA Airways for the great job done,  “I would like to thank all the team involved in the project for their commitment towards this prestigious, coveted, and challenging achievement. From the Entry into Service Team to the legal component, from the Aircraft transfer team to the flight crews, from the Purchasing Team to the Tax and Fiscal component for their commitment. Thanks to all of them, and without forgetting those who also collaborated 'from behind the scenes', to their great professionalism and passion, it was possible to take a further step towards this prestigious, ambitious and challenging result." 

 Presicce also wanted to involve the reference supplier - Airbus - emphasising the need to respect the delivery schedules with which ITA Airways will be able to dispose of the means to express the growth ambitions envisaged in the industrial plan, "Goals cannot be achieved if a true and transparent relationship is not established with the industrial counterpart that should be part of the same plan. I appeal to them so that we can proactively and constructively manage virtuous and collaborative paths with which we can increasingly ensure the goodness of the product and the management of delivery delays caused by the long wave post covid: sudden increase in demand and the obvious difficulties of the supply chain.”

 The fifth Airbus A220-300 in the ITA Airways fleet, the A220 is equipped with innovative elements which ensure superior comfort, thanks to wider seats, a new customized lighting system, larger windows, and increased overhead stowage space. The cabin offers 149 seats and is configured in business and economy service classes. It features reclining Safran leather seats in matching blue and beige cabin tones with USB power sockets. The interior of the A220, designed by Walter De Silva, provides the perfect expression of the Company’s identity, with the brand's stylistic features to satisfy the need for 'people centricity'. In designing the interior, designer Walter De Silva, was inspired by the idea of bringing inside the aircraft the pleasant and at the same time, consistent, feeling of a journey above the clouds.  

 Comfort, elegance, simplicity, and above all the use of natural materials and colors are at the core of the creative concept which aims at enhancing the quality of life on board while ensuring maximum passenger comfort during all flight phases. Blue and sand are the predominant colors, while the utmost attention to detail is expressed by the Italian flag and the embroidered logo on the headrests. The A220-300 is equipped with Wi-Fi connectivity and customers can purchase different service packages tailored to their needs, including messaging, mailing, and streaming. Courtesy of this system customers can also view destination information through an interactive 2D map.

Light, quiet, and efficient, the A220 delivers a 25 percent reduction in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions per seat compared to the previous generation of short-haul aircraft. This marks another important milestone in ITA Airways' Sustainability Plan, which envisions a fleet including 90 percent of new-generation aircraft by the end of 2027. Bringing together state-of-the-art aerodynamics, latest-generation technologies, and engines, the A220 is perfectly sized for the domestic and European markets and features a range of up to 3,450nm (6,390 km).It is based on a clean-sheet design and incorporates advanced materials for a lighter and more cost-efficient aircraft. It features a low-drag nose and tail cone design and optimized wing aerodynamics. An efficient Pratt & Whitney PurePower® PW1500G latest generation engine optimizes range and payload for greater efficiency. ITA Airways' new A220 with blue livery further strengthens the Company's strategy of building a fleet entirely featuring Airbus aircraft, with 74 currently in operation (4 A220-300s, 52 A320 Family, 12 A330 Family and 6 A350-900s).  The A220 will serve the short-haul routes of ITA Airways’ domestic and international network from Rome Fiumicino and Milano Linate to Genoa, Turin, Naples, Geneva, Zurich, and Munich.

 ITA Airways is a network air carrier wholly owned by the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. Its mission is to provide high-quality efficient and innovative domestic and international air transport services, as a means of boosting tourism and trade with foreign countries also by implementing integrated mobility projects. ITA Airways puts its customers at the heart of its strategy (by ramping up the digitization of its processes, to deliver best-in-class travel experience and tailored services), with a focus on sustainability encompassing a range of environmental (use of new green and state-of-the-art aircraft and sustainable aviation fuels), social (equality and inclusion for building a genderless company) and governance (integration of sustainability in strategies and internal processes) factors. ITA Airways is a SkyTeam member from October 2021

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