ITA launches flights to Bangkok as Lufthansa deal nears

British Airways isn’t the only airline to (re)launch flights to Bangkok this year. Italian flag carrier ITA has just announced it will launch direct flights from Rome to Bangkok from mid-November.

ITA currently only flies to Tokyo in the Far East so this will open up many more destinations for the airline.

The new flights will operate five times a week, starting on the 16th November:

• AZ758 is an overnight flight and departs Rome at 15:15, arriving in Bangkok at 07:40 the following morning. This services operate on Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays and has a flight time of 10:25 hours.

• AZ759 is a day flight and departs Bangkok at 12:15pm, arriving in Rome at 19:00 on the same day. This service operates on Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays and has a flight time of 13 hours.

The flights will be operated by ITA’s fleet of A330neos featuring the airline’s very smart business class cabin, which we have yet to review. Based on photos and what I’ve read, however, it should be a very comfortable experience!

For now, ITA remains a member of SkyTeam which means you can use your Virgin Points to redeem flights on the airline. Business class redemptions start at 85,000 points each way, plus taxes and fees, although as of writing they weren’t searchable on the Virgin Atlantic website.

Cash tickets appear to be on sale on the ITA website for around £1,800 return in business class.

Lufthansa’s investment in ITA due to be approved this week

We are likely to find out this week if the European Commission will allow Lufthansa’s acquisition of a 41% stake in ITA to proceed.

This would effectively add a 5th network to Lufthansa Group, to add to those run by Austrian, SWISS, Brussels and Lufthansa itself. It will also see ITA leaving SkyTeam and, at some point, joining Star Alliance.

The deal is expected to be approved following the latest round of concessions from Lufthansa. It remains to be seen exactly what is required but it is likely to include slot divestments in Rome. There may also be restrictions on ITA joining the Star Alliance transatlantic joint venture.

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