Italy: Ryanair to launch new Rome routes

Rome: Ryanair has announced five new winter routes from Rome’s two airports, Fiumicino and Ciampino, together with the opening of a new base at Turin Caselle airport and two new hangars at Milan-Bergamo airport Orio al Serio.

The new routes operated by the low-cost Irish carrier will connect the Italian capital with Agadir, Amman, Fez, Riga and Tallinn from the end of October.

The move is part of Ryanair’s plans to invest €8 billion in aircraft dedicated to the Italian market, said CEO Michael O’Leary, who added that the new routes would create “more than 800 new jobs” for pilots, cabin crews and engineers in Italy this winter.

The addition of Turin Caselle as a new base brings the number of Ryanair hubs in Italy to 16, with 83 Ryanair aircraft to be based in the country over the winter, amid a resumption of air travel to and from Italy.

O’Leary said Ryanair would operate flights from Rome “to 62 destinations, in over 20 countries” this winter.

Ryanair’s expansion in the Italian air market comes as Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA) – Italy’s new national airline to replace bankrupt Alitalia – prepares to take to the skies on 15 October.

ITA will start off with a fleet of 52 planes, with the number of aircraft rising to 78 next year and reaching 105 by the end of 2025.

Separately, Ryanair also announced that it will operate 14 new routes from London airports this winter, including flights from Stansted to Trapani and Treviso, and flights from Luton to Naples and Turin.

Italy recently Italy scrapped the five-day quarantine for travellers from the UK provided they are fully vaccinated and show a negative covid-19 test.

The negative coronavirus test must be taken 48 hours before arriving in Italy, and it must have been at least 14 days since the traveller received the second vaccine dose of the covid vaccine.