London's City airport (LCY) is poised to see a big boost in services to Italy. Currently the capital's own airport only boasts a single daily flight to Milan Malpensa operated by BA Connect.
But Italy's privately-owned Air One expects to launch twice daily flights to Milan starting on November 20. Services to Rome, Genoa and Turin will follow next January.
Significantly, Air One has chosen to operate to and from Milan's Linate airport (10 km from the city centre) rather than Malpensa (48 km from downtown). Flights will be operated by BAe146 jets with return fares starting from £107 in economy and £330 in business class.
Schedules are geared for the Italian rather than the UK market. But they are still more business-friendly from LCY than those currently offered by BA Connect. From Linate there are connecting possibilities to a few Italian domestic destinations.
Air One's weekday flights leave LCY at 1010 and 1730 arriving in Linate at 1310 and 2030. Inbound flights leave Linate at 0840 and 1600 to reach LCY at 0940 and 1700 respectively. There is one flight on Saturdays at 1010 from LCY (0840 ex-Linate) and one on Sunday leaving LCY at 1730 (1600 ex-Linate).
The airline has also published details of its schedules from LCY to Rome's main Fiumicino airport from next January. Timings are similar to those on the Milan route with double daily services on weekdays and a single flight every Saturday and Sunday.
For more information go to flyairone.it, londoncityairport.com.
Report by Alex McWhirter
