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Lufthansa Italia

Lufthansa Italia S.p.A. was an Italian airline and a wholly owned subsidiary of the German Lufthansa Group headquartered in Milan and based at Milan–Malpensa Airport. Operations started on 2 February 2009 and ceased on 29 October 2011.[1]

History

Foundation

On 28 April 2008 Lufthansa announced plans to commence intra-European flights out of Milan–Malpensa Airport using six Embraer 195 aircraft from its subsidiary Air Dolomiti.[2]On 26 November 2008 the new brand Lufthansa Italia was formed instead of the originally planned Air Dolomiti operations.[1][3] Operations started on 2 February 2009 using the larger Airbus A319-100.[4] The new subsidiary was established to allow Lufthansa to better tap into the lucrative North Italian market that was all but abandoned by Alitalia during a series of cutbacks. The airline's on board cuisine was aimed towards the Italian market, with Italian foods and drinks. For example, in business class, Italian espresso was served.[citation needed]

Shutdown

On 23 July 2011, Lufthansa reported in a press release that it would stop all Lufthansa Italia operations by 29 October 2011[5] as it had been proven too difficult to operate the Italian-based operations economically.[6] As a replacement, the Lufthansa Group increased their flights from Italian destinations to their German hubs in Frankfurt and Munich instead.[6] The last scheduled flight of Lufthansa Italia was LH3627 on 29 October 2011, which landed at 16:35, coming from Palermo to Milan-Malpensa, which was flown on the Airbus A319-100 with the registration D-AKNJ. The former Lufthansa Italia aircraft have been transferred back to other Lufthansa Group airlines.[citation needed]

Destinations

The following cities were served by Lufthansa Italia prior to its shutdown on 29 October 2011:[7]

Fleet

Lufthansa Italia Airbus A319-100

The Lufthansa Italia fleet consisted of the following aircraft. All aircraft were given names of Italian cities, such as 'Bologna' and 'Varese', and were painted in a modified Lufthansa livery while retaining their German registrations.

References

  1. ^ a b Lufthansa press release: "Lufthansa launches new Lufthansa Italia brand" Archived 2009-02-01 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ Lufthansa press release: "Lufthansa boosts services from Milan" Archived 2008-12-11 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ Espinoza, Javier. "Lufthansa's Italian Adventure." Forbes. 26 November 2008.
  4. ^ Lufthansa press release: "Fly Lufthansa direct from Milan to major European cities" Archived 2008-09-19 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ "Lufthansa and Air Dolomiti will take over role of the Lufthansa Italia brand – Air Dolomiti to expand route network". 2011-05-23. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 27 August 2011.
  6. ^ a b "Rückzug vom Drehkreuz in Mailand - aus für "Lufthansa Italia"".
  7. ^ "Lufthansa Italia on ch-aviation".

External links

Media related to Lufthansa Italia at Wikimedia Commons