ITA Airways' seventh Airbus A330-900 enters fleet: here's why it's different from all the others
ITA Airways has taken delivery of its seventh Airbus A330-900. The plane, which had made its first flight to Toulouse on [...]
ITA Airways
SkyTeam
ITA Airways took over the seventh Airbus A330-900. The plane, which had made its first flight to Toulouse last December, is named after Livio Berruti, Olympic champion in the 200-meter flat race at the 1960 Rome Games.
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But the most newsworthy thing is the identifying 'marks' it bears on the fuselage: I-ITYB. That 'I' means that the aircraft was registered in Italy. Someone, pointing out that the A330 in question flies for an Italian company, might say: so what? Actually, that brand (which is a bit like the license plate for cars) I- is a 'first' in the ITA Airways fleet., whose airplanes they all carry EI- brands..
This can be explained by the fact that all of the aircraft that entered ITA's fleet before the 'Livio Berruti' are leased, that is, leased from specialized companies to which the Italian company pays a fee. And they are EI-branded aircraft-why Ireland. (Country to which the code 'EI' corresponds according to ICAO). Is the country in the European Union where it is most tax-efficient to register an aircraft. The I-ITYB deviates from all its predecessors by being. ITA's first aircraft acquired under ownership. Like him there will be Nine more A330-900s of the 17 ordered in total from the Italian carrier.
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Considering ITA as the 'heir' of Alitalia, it had been since early 2021 that an aircraft of the Italian flag carrier did not carry a registration beginning with the letter 'I'. The last two had been Two A330-200s taken out of service in January and February 2021.
Among the aircraft models that are 'passed' from Alitalia to ITA in October 2021 and that were previously registered in Italy, there are only a few A319s which were re-registered as EI- at the end of 2010. Among them is the A319 that operated the new airline's first flight, AZ 1639 from Milan Linate to Bari, on the morning of October 15, 2021: it entered the fleet as Alitalia's seventh A319 in October 2003 with the markings I-BIMC, had been re-registered EI-IMC in November 2010, and last September was taken out of service after a 20-year honored career.
Three of the next A330-900s that ITA will receive from Airbus will also be registered in Italy: I-ITYA, I-ITYC and I-ITYD. Maximum confidentiality on the names of the blue sportsmen or sportswomen to whom these three upcoming A330neo acquired in ownership (and the fourth that will be leased and will have EI-HPB marks) that will be affixed on the fuselages. The five who have served so far bear the names Gelindo Bordin, Marco Tardelli, Lorenzo Bernardi, Gianmarco Pozzecco and Luca Pancalli.
Deliveries of the A330-900s from Airbus to ITA Airways are moving forward. slightly late, compared with the plan announced last May, according to which seven (not six) aircraft were to be delivered by the end of 2023. The seventeenth and final example will enter the fleet in 2025, when all old A330-200s should be withdrawn from service.
