Air Italy starts Delhi-Milan flight; set to have code share with Vistara

New Delhi: Italian carrier Air Italy Friday commenced direct services to Milan from the national capital and has high expectations from the Indian market, as it expands in Asia, a senior official said.

Air Italy's Chief Operating Officer Rossen Dimitrov said the airline is to enter into a code share with full service carrier Vistara. Code sharing allows an airline to book its passengers on its partner carriers and provide seamless travel to destinations where it has no presence.

The first flight to Milan took off from here in the morning. The Italian airline would operate three weekly flights from the national captial to Milan and starting December 14, there would be thrice-a-week direct services to Milan from Mumbai.

"The launch of our India-Italy sector represents another major step forward for Air Italy and reinforces our commitment to our network expansion plans in Asia," Dimitrov said at a press briefing here. He noted that India is a great market and there are "very high expectations" as there is an opportunity to grow. Delhi is the fourth intercontinental route for Air Italy this year after flights to New York, Miami and Bangkok.