Rome — The Italian Civil Aviation Authority (Enac) has granted the airline Italia Trasporto Aereo (Ita) two important licences to operate.
Alitalia's successor airline has been granted an air operator's certificate and a licence to carry out air transport operations, Enac announced in Rome on Wednesday.
"Ita can take off," said the authority's president, Pierluigi Di Palma. The airline can now start selling tickets.
The first planes are scheduled to take off on October 15, according to Ita's plans.
Ita actually wanted to start in the spring. For months, however, there was disagreement with EU competition regulators in Brussels.
Alitalia had been dependent on state aid for years because the airline was not making a profit. Ita is therefore to be launched in a streamlined form.
According to its own information, the airline wants to start with 52 aircraft. This year, up to 2,950 people are to work in flight operations.
From its hubs in Rome and Milan, the new airline wants to concentrate on business and leisure customers.
It will initially offer 45 destinations and 61 routes, including Frankfurt, Paris, London, New York and Buenos Aires.
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