Alitalia and Etihad complete deal as Emirates and Qatar add seats. Record growth for Italy-Gulf

The New Year 2015 welcomes in a new Alitalia as Alitalia CAI becomes Alitalia SAI on 01-Jan-2015, having completed an ownership change in which Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways takes a 49% stake, adding to its investments in other European carriers including Aer Lingus, Air Serbia, airberlin and Darwin/Etihad Regional.

But 2015 will also witness a record amount of seats offered between Italy and Gulf hubs as Alitalia and Etihad grow flights to Abu Dhabi under their partnership, while Emirates and Qatar make their own additions. There will be approximately 1,200 more seats a day between Italy and the Gulf in 2015 compared to 2014, for a total of over 5,100 seats a day.

Alitalia and Etihad will add more seats than they have in the past while Emirates and Qatar, so far, will have their highest growth year in Italy since 2012. In the space of four years the Italy-Gulf market will have doubled from 840,000 seats in 2011 to a projected 1.9 million in 2015.