Baby on Board: ITA Airways Records Its First In-Flight Birth

‍ROME — ITA Airways (AZ) announced a passenger gave birth on board flight AZ855 from Dakar (DSS) to Rome Fiumicino (FCO) on the night of April 29, marking the first time a child has been born on one of the carrier’s aircraft, EI-HXC, an Airbus A321neo.

The airline said the woman was seven months pregnant and went into labor about an hour after takeoff. The mother and baby got quick help from the cabin crew, as well as from two passengers who were a doctor and a nurse. Both were reported to be in good health after the birth.

For ITA, this story is not about routes or planes, but about how the crew handled a stressful situation. The airline described the event as a rare and happy emergency that ended well because of the calm crew and the medical help from passengers.

Births on commercial flights are rare, but they do happen. Just earlier this week, a passenger gave birth on a Delta Air Lines (DL) flight as it neared Portland, Oregon.

Born at 35,000 feet? The laws can get complicated

A question that might come up is what nationality a baby gets if born in midair, especially over the ocean. There is no single rule for this. Usually, citizenship depends on the parents’ nationality laws, not the airline or destination. The plane’s registration can also matter, but it is usually a backup option.

Under the Chicago Convention, aircraft have the nationality of the state in which they are registered. But that does not automatically mean a baby born on an Italian-registered aircraft becomes Italian, or on a U.S.-registered aircraft becomes American.

Where the plane is flying can also be important. The U.S. State Department says a child born on a plane outside U.S. airspace does not get U.S. citizenship just because the plane is American. However, being born in U.S. airspace can matter for birthright citizenship. For record-keeping, a birth in a place with no country may be listed as “IN THE AIR.”

The clearest international rule is really about preventing statelessness. Under the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, a birth on an aircraft can be treated as having occurred in the territory of the state where the aircraft is registered. That rule is meant to stop a child from falling into a legal void if no nationality would otherwise attach.

So if a baby is born over the ocean or over a large continent, the child will usually get nationality from a parent. If that is not possible, the country of registration of the plane may be used to ensure the child is not left without nationality.

But we digress; ITA’s in-flight birth can be just a sweet airline oddity.