Italian flag carrier and SkyTeam alliance member Alitalia is to expand its flights between Italy and the UK during the summer 2013 schedule with the growth of its operations at London City Airport. The airline is to boost the frequency of its existing service to the Docklands’ facility from Milan Linate as well as introducing a brand new link from Rome Fiumicino, resuming a service previously operated in 2007 by Air One using an Avro RJ70 wet-leased from Swedish operator Transwede.

The new Rome Fiumicino – London City operation, which will complement Alitalia’s existing flights from the Italian capital to London’s main international gateway at Heathrow Airport, will be launched from April 1, 2013 and will be operated six times weekly using an Embraer 190. The service will enable the carrier to better compete in the market between Rome and London, where it also faces competition from British Airways (from Gatwick and Heathrow), easyJet (Gatwick), Monarch Airlines (Luton) and Ryanair (Stansted). In 2011 around two million passengers flew between the two cities, according to UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) data, up 12.2 per cent on the previous year.

Alitalia made its debut at London City in the mid-1990s when it first introduced flights from Milan Linate and it currently offers eleven services a week with two flights every weekday. From March 31, 2013 it will introduce an additional evening rotation on a six times weekly schedule, increasing its total weekly flights on the route to an initial 17 during April 2013, rising to 18 as an additional weekend rotation is introduced.

There has been an increasing demand for flights between Milan Linate and London City. According to UK CAA data, 48,776 passengers travelled on the route in 2011, up 16.7 per cent on the previous year. Traffic on the route is still considerably below the numbers flying from Milan to London’s other airports, but the flights serve a notable niche, predominantly serving the premium business clientele in the Docklands financial district.

The CAA data shows that over 1.8 million passengers travelled between London and Milan in 2011 and the table below highlights the traffic split by London airport. Our analysis also shows that although London City accounts for just under three per cent of the total traffic between Milan and London, it does attract a more premium customer, with average one-way fares of $262, versus $237 at Heathrow (much lower if you don’t compare like-for-like and factor Malpensa flights) and $91 at Gatwick (due to operations of low-cost carrier easyJet).