Originally Posted by
WHBM
The "Alitalia would have something to do" etc argument is often incorrect, as the "something" is not defined and often will not exist. Alitalia will have its own trunk business routes already at Rome which also peak in morning and evening, with a lull in between. The fact is, a twice daily service with nothing in between may be the best financial return. So many of the operating costs, fuel, crew, nav charges, even a significant proportion of the leasing cost, are flying hours/sectors based, all of which rise with marginal time flights which at the fares you can get then are just not worthwhile.
Alitalia can easily use the E190 for off-peak flights on routes from FCO with multiple daily departures, e.g. to domestic destinations. Alitalia, for example, deploys E-Jets on its shuttle-like FCO-LIN route or on midday flights to PSA, BLQ or NCE. I doubt they would keep an E90 serving LCY in the morning and evening on the ground for the rest of the day.