ITA Airways LGW-FCO as of 1 June 2024
What will be the frequency of the new ITA Airways LGW-FCO service? The interim ACL NS 2024 LGW slot report listed them as having secured slots for 2 daily rotations.
What aircraft type[s] will they be using? A220s / 320s / 321s?
Anyway, the good news for LGW just seems to continue, which is a good thing.
If LGW-FCO comes at the expense of LHR-FCO as previously suggested in this thread, then what will happen to the slots ITA will vacate at LHR? Will they use them to increase their LHR-LIN frequency? Another question I've got in this connection is: Who owns ITA's LHR slots? Is it Etihad? (I seem to remember having read that Etihad had acquired ownership of ITA's predecessor Alitalia's LHR slots as collateral for the money they'd lent the now defunct former Italian flag carrier.
Reverting to the most asked question in relation to LGW, who's next, my prediction is:
MIAT Mongolian as the UK-Mongolia bilateral has just been renewed and MIAT has gone public with adding scheduled service to LON being on their horizon, likely to be helped by the fact that MIAT is currently in the process of becoming a oneworld affiliate or associate (can't remember what exactly their lowest level of airline membership is called) being sponsored by Cathay. While IMHO we're unlikely to it happen this year, MIAT could be making its LGW debut next year, hopefully with their new 787s.
Another interesting new airline to have at LGW would be the new, up-market Taiwanese long-haul FSC Starlux (reportedly founded by the same top management team who had founded highly acclaimed Eva Air decades ago). While this airline is at the moment focused on building up its presence in the US, according to an article featuring in Airways magazine fairly recently, the airline seems to be genuinely interested in establishing a footprint in Europe as well, with both LON and PAR likely to be among its initial batch of destinations. Given the slot situation at LHR, IMHO I believe there is a good chance of seeing this airline's A350A-900s at LGW, possibly from as early as 2025. If this were to happen, it would be another major coup for LGW (of the same importance as attracting Singapore Airlines to the airport and - hopefully - getting Cathay to resume its pre-Covid LGW-HKG service).