Air One postpones Boston debut for almost two weeks
Delay in delivery of plane seats blamed
Air One has postponed tomorrow's inaugural flight between Boston and Milan until June 27.
The Italian carrier said its first foray into the US market has been frustrated by a three-week delay in delivery of new business-class seats for its refurbished leased aircraft.
More than 1,000 passengers already bought tickets for the first two weeks of flights and have been rebooked on Lufthansa, United Airlines, or other partner airlines.
However,
those passengers will not get to experience the Italian cuisine and Italian in-flight films that Air One is known for. The carrier was to have offered five flights a week between Boston and Milan starting at $799 round trip.
"We do apologize," said Giorgio De Roni, Air One's chief revenue officer. He said the airline received its first reconfigured aircraft yesterday and expects the second one to arrive next week, but
wants to wait until it has a third plane for backup. "We prefer to have everything perfect from the very beginning."
Pegging when new or refurbished aircraft will be ready is particularly tricky because manufacturers typically give a one-month window for delivery. Air One decided to postpone the start of service about 10 days ago and also pushed back the launch of flights between Chicago O'Hare International Airport and Milan from June 21 to June 26.
Air One will staff its check-in counters at Boston's Logan International Airport and Milan's Malpensa Airport starting tomorrow to help ticket holders.
This isn't the first time an airline breaking into the Boston market has postponed its start date. Last summer, Scottish budget carrier flyglobespan introduced service between Boston and two destinations in Ireland and its launch date was delayed, too.
That carrier no longer serves Logan
http://www.boston.com/business/artic...ost_two_weeks/
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