London Southend Airport has picked up another airline, with Aeroitalia launching a service to Milan Bergamo
A new airline name arriving on the scene in Europe is Italian player Aeroitalia, which is making another foray into the UK market with a service to London Southend Airport from Milan Bergamo.
Launched in 2022 and with its first charter operations kicking off in July that year with Boeing 737-800s, the carrier is led by Francesco Gaetano Intrieri, who previously worked as a consultant to Italy’s Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport.
One of the significant names backing Aeroitalia is Germán Efromovich, who led the Synergy Group that acquired Colombian carrier Avianca in the 2000s. He is the carrier’s president.
For a while from late 2022, when slots were available after the pandemic, Aeroitalia dipped its toe into the London market with a short-lived service to Heathrow.
Now it is back. The new service, which operates six times weekly, began on 25 March, and Southend was chosen over other gateways to London as the carrier sought “the best value proposition” to connect Milan and the UK capital, said Marc Watkins, Route Development Manager at Southend.
“The decision to operate to London Southend Airport was also made considering the excellent rail connections that connect the airport to central London, which can be reached in about 52 minutes by train,” according to Aeroitalia’s Intrieri.
Milan Bergamo Airport itself is located just 45 minutes from the Italian city centre by bus.
John Upton, CEO of London Southend, said: “This partnership marks a significant milestone for London Southend, providing our passengers in the east of London and Southeast England with a convenient gateway to the heart of Italian football, fashion and culture in Milan.”
Southend will provide Aeroitalia with marketing support for its new service with social media, radio and train station advertising. “We will make as much noise as possible about our new routes,” said Watkins.
The carrier believes the market will attract leisure and business travellers and could be split equally in terms of demand from passengers originating from the UK and Italy. Southend itself is undertaking a big outreach campaign with travel agents in its catchment area to promote the Milan connection and its other destinations, explained Watkins.
“Travel agents in the UK market are having a resurgence and have an important role to play,” he said.
The Aeroitalia service will face competition from Ryanair’s well-established London Stansted–Milan Bergamo service, which operates four times daily.
Southend hopes the route will be a success and that Aeroitalia will establish the airport as its London gateway and connect with more Italian cities, said Watkins.
The arrival of Aeroitalia complements London Southend’s existing partner airline and tour operators – easyJet, Balkan Holidays and Santa’s Lapland – and brings the total number of destinations now available from the airport in 2024 to 11.
