ITA Airways slowly expanding presence in the Asia Pacific/Indian Subcontinent
ITA Airways will launch five times weekly Rome Fiumicino-Bangkok Suvarnabhumi service on 16-Nov-2024, identifying Thailand as a key market for leisure and business travel.
Bangkok will be ITA's third destination in the Asia Pacific/Indian Subcontinent region, following successful routes to Tokyo Haneda and Delhi, both of which have been expanded to daily frequency.
ITA remains the sole scheduled operator on these routes, distinguishing itself from Asian competitors that serve other major cities like Beijing, Seoul and Singapore.
Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA Airways) to launch five times weekly Rome Fiumicino-Bangkok Suvarnabhumi service
Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA Airways) will launch five times weekly Rome Fiumicino-Bangkok Suvarnabhumi service from 16-Nov-2024, with CCO Emiliana Limosani labelling Thailand "a strategic market in terms of leisure tourism and the business segment".
Bangkok will be ITA's third destination in the Asia Pacific/Indian Subcontinent region, along with Tokyo Haneda and Delhi, which are also both served from Rome.
Service to Tokyo was launched first, in Nov-2022, initially three times weekly and gradually increasing to its current daily frequency. The Delhi service was launched shortly after, in Dec-2022, and has similarly been expanded from three weekly frequencies to daily.
ITA faces no direct competition on its three Asian routes from Rome
According to CAPA - Centre for Aviation and OAG data, the common theme on the routes to Tokyo and Delhi, which will also apply to Rome-Bangkok, is that ITA is the sole scheduled operator.
Elsewhere, routes connecting Rome to many of the major cities and countries in the Asia Pacific, such as with Beijing, Seoul, Singapore, Taiwan, Dhaka and Perth are already operated by Asian competitors.
Beijing is served by Air China, Seoul Incheon by Korean Air and Air Asiana, as well as T'way Air seasonally, Singapore by Singapore Airlines, Taipei by China Airlines, Dhaka by Biman Bangladesh Airlines and Perth by Qantas, on a seasonal basis.
Hong Kong, Pakistan and Vietnam are among some of the major destinations in the region which aren't currently connected to the Italian capital.
Rome-Hong Kong service was last operated by Cathay Pacific between four times weekly and daily, until early 2020.
ITA already holds largest share of Rome to Asia Pacific capacity
A closer look at the Route Capacity Analyser tool within the CAPA - Centre for Aviation data dashboard shows that ITA currently holds a 19.3% share of two-way seat capacity between Rome and Asia Pacific (w/c 19-Aug-2024).
This places it as the largest operator in this market, ahead of Air China (14.5%), China Eastern Airlines (11.6%) and Asiana Airlines (9.5%).
ITA's share has been diluted over the past five months, slipping from 21.8% in early Apr-2024, but advanced published schedules show its position strengthening through the latter months of the year, peaking at over 30% close to the conclusion of the calendar year.
Rome to Asia Pacific, two-way total seats, Jan-2023 - Dec-2024
