Flight Review: ITA Airways A220-300 Economy Class
Flight #: AZ77
From: Barcelona (BCN)
To: Rome Fiumicino (FCO)
Flight time: 1h 30min
Aircraft: Airbus A220-300
Continuing with our review of the different ITA Airways products, which has so far included the airline’s A330-900neo Business Class and A321neo Premium Economy and Economy cabins, it’s now the turn of the economy class the Italian flag carrier offers on its A220-300 fleet.
Unlike the A321s, which are often deployed on medium-range missions all the way to the Middle East, ITA Airways uses its A220 fleet on relatively short European routes.
This was the case of this flight between Barcelona and Rome, which, although short, allowed me to try our several features of this very modern cabin and aircraft.
Just before boarding the aircraft, a note about branding, though. Notice how up to three different brands are used here! “ITA Airways, inspired by Alitalia” (honestly, I don’t think Alitalia had such a powerful brand that it needs to be invoked even years after it went bust!) and “Member of the Lufthansa Group” (still in transition but this one is going to be interesting to watch!)
Cabin and amenities
ITA Airways operates its A220-300 with a two class cabin totalling 148 seats. Unlike the A321s, the A220 business class does not have suites or even special seats, it is more like the traditional euro-business with empty middle seats (or aisle ones if on the left side of the A220).
Business class is not the object of this review, nevertheless I post here a couple of pics here for reference to give an idea of how the cabin looks like.
It must be said that the whole aircraft interior is extremely stylish and you get the premium feel even if traveling in economy. It is, apparently, the work of Walter De Silva, a highly experienced designer who is a legend in the field of automotive design. It clearly shows!
The leather-upholstered seats are beautiful and elegant, with a combination of light cream and dark grey colours punctuated by little details like the small italian flags that are found along some of the linings. Beautiful!
When it comes to the actual seat, it is a rather modern setup, complete with in-seat power (USB and C-type) right in front and a personal electronic device holder located, conveniently, next to it.
There is also a hard literature pocket at the top and a soft one at the bottom of the seat (curiously, the safety card was in the bottom one).
Seat pitch is 30”, which is ok in economy. It does recline, though! See the button on the left side photo below…a rare sight nowadays on European airlines!
Two other positive features: the cabin lighting which is often set to ITA Airways blue, but also other colours and the rather spacious overhead baggage bins (or at least this is the impression I got!).
Food and Drink
Since this was a rather short flight, we just got a a snack and a soft drink (or water, tea or coffee).
The crew did offer a choice, though, of sweet or savoury snack. I chose the latter, which was this bag of tortilla chips. Pretty tasty.
Another thing I like is the fact that ITA Airways serves pear juice on all its flights. This is one of my favourite flavours and one, interestingly, is sometimes even difficult to find in regular supermarkets.
When it comes to inflight entertainment, there was neither inflight magazine nor an inflight entertainment (IFE) system as such.
The aircraft was, however, fitted with internet connectivity (provided by Viasat), well….at least in theory!
There is even a QR code between the seats that invites you to connect. It did not work, though. The network was available, since my cellphone could detect it, but all effort to connect failed. Nevermind, it is no tragedy to spend a bit more than an hour without internet.
Wifi was available on my next flight, though, and there it worked. So, I could take some snaps of the different data plans which ITA Airways offers onboard.
There is a 30min light data plan (basically for messaging apps and social media updates), which is the one I tried and I must say that this time it worked perfectly fine.
This set up will change soon, though, as all airlines of the Lufthansa Group, presumably ITA Airways included, are expected to start installing SpaceX’s Starlink high-speed internet connectivity later this year in a process that will last all the way through to 2029.
Once Starlink is available, internet will then be offered for free on all flights (to registered users).
Impressions of Fiumicino Airport
Another positive aspect of the ITA Airways experience is its Fiumicino hub, which has become one of my favourite European airports.
The facilities are rather modern and functional (Aeroporti di Roma, Fimunicino’s management company, has, actually, been particularly active in the field of innovation) and, even if your are not using one of the loungers, the commercial and gastronomic offer is pretty good.
I also like the fact that there are quite a few fun amenities that invite passenger engagement, such as this giant chess board depicted here and several pianos that are scattered throughout the terminals and anyone can play.
Our take:
I think ITA Airways has possibly one of the best economy classes in Europe at the time of writing these lines. It is still a short-haul economy class product, but some details, from the reclining seats to the elegant design and the complimentary snack help elevate the experience just enough to differentiate it from many of its peers.
