Alitalia Adds San Francisco to Growing U.S. Network

Despite being plagued by financial woes and threats of liquidation, Italian carrier Alitalia has announced that the carrier will begin service between Rome and San Francisco next summer.

This is not a completely new service for the carrier as Alitalia previously flew between Milan and San Francisco in 2001, but ended the service after the airline industry’s post-9/11 downturn.

The new service will be a seasonal service, as the carrier will fly between the two cities from Jul. 1 to Oct. 28. Flights will also be operated three times a week, on Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.

Alitalia has been looking at resuming its San Francisco service for quite some time now, but held off on the decision due to the carrier’s recent financial struggles. In addition, this past May, the carrier announced five time weekly service between Rome and Washington, D.C.

Deadlines for the commercial plan of the airline continue to be extended and the carrier has been operating under bankruptcy protection for over two years now. 

Flights will be operated using Alitalia’s Boeing 777-200, which features 30 lie-flat business class seats, 24 premium economy seats, and 239 economy seats.

With a total distance of 6,264 miles between Rome and San Francisco, flight times will most likely be 13 hours on westbound flights and 12 hours on eastbound flights.

The addition of San Francisco brings the carrier’s U.S. network up to eight cities, as the carrier also flies to Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Washington Dulles and New York.

It is worth noting that fellow Italian carrier and upstart in the Italian aviation market Air Italy also launched a seasonal summer service between Milan and San Francisco this year and the carrier plans to resume the service next summer. Fares are now on sale on Alitalia’s website.

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Akhil Dewan

An “AvGeek” for most of his life, Akhil has always been drawn to aviation. If there is an opportunity to read about an airline, fly on a new airplane, or talk to anyone about aviation, he is on it. Akhil has been on over 20 different kinds of aircraft, his favorite being the MD-80. Additionally, he has visited 5 continents and plans to knock out the remaining two (Africa and Antarctica) soon. Based in Dallas, Akhil graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in Management Information Systems and currently works in consulting. His dream is to become an airline executive.

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