The President of Alitalia Luke of Montezemolo and the Chief Executive Officer Silvano Cassano presented the new direct intercontinental connection today in Milan Milan Malpensa – Shanghai which marks the Company's return to China and a further stage in the development of intercontinental connections from Malpensa airport.
Shanghai is the first city in the People's Republic of China by number of inhabitants and is considered the economic capital of the country. The flight, which started with the inauguration of Expo Milano 2015, represents another important investment by Alitalia in Milan, following the launch of the direct flight to Abu Dhabi on 29 March.
With these new connections, Alitalia further strengthens its intercontinental offer from Milan and Northern Italy. In addition to the new flights to Shanghai and the daily ones to Abu Dhabi, Alitalia has also strengthened the offer of Milan – Tokyo connections, which have become daily, as well as the flights to New York JFK.
Today Alitalia becomes the first company at Malpensa for the number of intercontinental destinations served and over the next 3 years Alitalia aims to increase the number of passengers on intercontinental flights at the Milan airport by 130%.
For the promotion of tourism incoming from Shanghai, Alitalia is collaborating with the local representatives of the Italian system: the Italian Consulate, ICE and the Italian Chamber of Commerce in China, for a system promotion of Italy and Expo Milano 2015.
In Shanghai, for the semester of the Expo, Alitalia offers 39.000 seats. Also thanks to agreements stipulated with some of the most important Chinese tour operators, Alitalia has already sold around 31.000 tickets, equal to 80% of the capacity offered.
Luca di Montezemolo, President of Alitalia, said: “Today we celebrate the return of Alitalia to China with direct flights and we do so by connecting the economic capitals of the two countries. It is a very significant return for Alitalia which is now starting to increase its presence in the Far East. This flight represents an important investment to support Italian exports to China and above all to facilitate the arrival of tourists and visitors to Milan which for four days has assumed the role of world showcase thanks to Expo Milano 2015”.
Silvano Cassano, Alitalia's Chief Executive Officer said: “Milan-Shanghai is the third intercontinental route that we are presenting in just over a month. Alitalia continues to focus on the development of intercontinental connections, in particular towards the Far East, the area of the world with the highest rate of development and in which Alitalia intends to continue investing. Connections with Seoul and Beijing will start within the year which, together with the presentation of the new brand and new aircraft configuration, will represent the most concrete testimony of the ambitions of Alitalia's relaunch plan”.
Overall, Alitalia offers a total of 48 round-trip intercontinental flights per week to and from Malpensa. From Milan Malpensa the new Alitalia flight to Shanghai takes off every Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Alitalia planes depart from Shanghai's Pudong airport every Monday, Thursday and Saturday. The connection is made with 330-seat Airbus A250 aircraft, configured in the three Magnifica classes of service (business class), Classic Plus (premium economy) and Classical (economy).
Tickets for the new Alitalia flights are already on sale on alitalia.com, by calling the Alitalia Customer Center on 89.20.10, in travel agencies and at airport ticket offices.
