Originally Posted by
laviation
Mostly down to the fact Rome and especially Milan are dominated by the LCCs.
BUT
The majority if not all of the European national airlines have consistently served Manchester over the past several decades and have remained at the airport regardless of the growth in LCCs over the last two decades.
Alitalia on the other hand had always an on off relationship with Manchester over the decades compared to the rest of the European national airlines serving the airport. Even before the advent of the LCC competition Alitalia were starting and stopping Milan to Manchester. At one point it was a daily B727 service. So getting back to my previous comments, I've never understood why Alitalia found it difficult serving Manchester when so many of the airline's contemporaries have remained at the airport and are successful even with the competition from the LCCs.
I am fairly confident that ITA Airways which of course is the former Alitalia in disguise will eventually launch a Milan to Manchester route.
On another note.
Air Baltic is another European national airline currently not serving Manchester. With Air Baltic expanding their route network and having a large fleet of A220s I'm surprised that they haven't announced a resumption of a Riga to Manchester route. Air Baltic announced this week that they are looking at acquiring a further 30 A220s. Hopefully Air Baltic at some stage will announce the launch of a Riga to Manchester route.