ITA to Operate Last A330-200 Flight on New Year’s Eve

‍ROME — ITA Airways (AZ) will retire its last Airbus A330-200 on December 31. The last flight will be AZ615 from Boston (BOS) to Rome (FCO), a red-eye that arrives the following morning (and year) back in Rome.

EI-EJH, a 15-year-old A330-202, is the last first-generation A330 in the AZ fleet, and the last widebody inherited from predecessor Alitalia. Today, it’s making its final Delhi (DEL) turn, followed tomorrow by a leg to New York (JFK) and back, concluding its service at ITA the following day on the aforementioned Boston flight.

Going forward, the carrier will build its widebody operations around the A330-900 and A350-900, with 12 (plus 5 on order) and six examples in the fleet, respectively.

ITA has operated the A330-200 since its October 2021 launch and inherited Alitalia’s fleet, replacing it in recent years with factory-fresh A330-900s.

The ITA Airways A330ceo Fleet

In total, AZ operated eight former Alitalia A330-200s on leases. As of now, three are still officially on lease to AZ, two are parked at Rome Fiumicino Airport, and the third is still in service.

The five other jets are either stored, scrapped, or have found new homes. One went to Hi Fly Malta, another to Awesome Cargo (A7) of Mexico, and one was broken up at St. Athan (DGX) in 2023. The other two are stored at Amman (AMM) and Abu Dhabi (AUH).

EI-EJG, EJH, EJM, and EJP, the three still at ITA and the one stored at AMM, are slated to be returned to their lessors and will join Azul (AD) in the coming months. 

The Brazilian airline will use the second-hand jets to replace its A330-900s, whose leases with Avalon expire soon. Reports suggest the jets may be going to fellow Brazilian low-cost carrier GOL (G3), according to a statement to its investors in October.

However, this isn’t set in stone yet; the airline states, “the aircraft may be operated by any company in the Abra Group (Avianca, GOL, Wamos Air), with the aircraft ownership and financing costs borne by the respective operator.”