ITA Airways took delivery of its first all-blue Airbus A220, an outlier in its current fleet of A220-300s.
The aircraft, registered as EI-HHM, landed at Rome Leonardo da Vinci Fiumicino Airport (FCO) after it refueled at London Stansted Airport (STN) on its way from the Mirabel, Canada, Final Assembly Line (FAL) at Montreal Mirabel International Airport (YMX) on August 26, 2023.
This marks the delivery of the first all-blue Airbus A220 to ITA Airways. The airline’s other four aircraft of the type sport an all-white fuselage with the words “Born To Be Sustainable” written on the side. The all-white livery is an endorsement of ITA Airways’ commitment to operate a fleet of 80% new-generation aircraft by 2026, part of the airline’s fleet renewal plan.
“The large Born To Be Sustainable writing on the fuselage illustrates this founding commitment, which ITA Airways pursues in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), combining environmental and social sustainability with business growth and financial solidity,” ITA Airways described the livery in a special page dedicated to the fleet renewal plan.
The Airbus A220 is still on the ground at FCO at the time of publishing.
According to ch-aviation.com data, all five ITA Airways Airbus A220-300 aircraft are leased from Air Lease Corporation (ALC), with the airline scheduled to take delivery of 11 additional aircraft of the type. Airbus Orders & Deliveries filings for July 2023 also show that the Italian carrier has seven A220-100s on order, which were purchased in December 2021.
At the time, ITA Airways also finalized orders for 11 A320neo and 10 A330neo aircraft, affirming a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed in September 2021.
ITA Airways and ALC agreed to the lease of 31 new aircraft scheduled to be delivered to the airline from H2 2022 through early 2025, also in September 2021. The 31 aircraft consisted of 15 Airbus A220, two A320neo, nine A321neo, and five A330-900neo, which would be operated by the airline “on long-term lease from ALC’s orderbook with Airbus,” the lessor said at the time.