Italian flag carrier ITA Airways has agreed with the Venezuelan government to launch a thrice-weekly Rome Fiumicino–Caracas service from March 2027, subject to regulatory approval. The Memorandum of Understanding was signed yesterday by CEO Joerg Eberhart and Ambassador María Elena Uzzo during a ceremony at the Embassy of Venezuela in Rome. The route will restore a direct link severed in 2021 when the bankrupt Alitalia ceased operations and COVID-era restrictions made the market unviable. Almost 140 000 people of Italian descent live in Venezuela, and remittances from Italy exceeded €120 million last year, underscoring pent-up demand for VFR (visiting-friends-and-relatives) travel. ITA plans to deploy Airbus A330-900neo aircraft offering 30 business-class suites, 24 premium-economy seats and 237 economy seats, with onward connections to Milan, Venice and 15 European cities. The carrier says freight capacity will bolster Italy’s export of pharmaceuticals and fashion goods to Latin America and support Venezuela’s oil-services supply chain. For mobility managers the announcement gives early visibility to a long-haul option that can shorten itineraries for engineers and NGO staff working in Venezuela’s recovering energy and humanitarian sectors. Companies should monitor bilateral air-service negotiations and start forecasting travel budgets, as introductory fares are expected to be below historic Alitalia levels to stimulate demand. ITA will open reservations once Italy’s ENAC and Venezuela’s INAC finalise safety audits—expected by January—making the launch a litmus test for the airline’s new long-haul growth strategy following its Lufthansa minority acquisition earlier this year.
Source: Aviation24.be
