ITA Airways A220 short haul business class review from London to Milan

This is our review of ITA Airways business class on its short haul A220.

Italian airline ITA Airways (pronounced as in ITA-ly) has been growing from strength to strength since its debut in 2021.

Launched as a brand-new airline, it was designed to replace the ailing former flag carrier Alitalia which had been through more bail-outs than Italian tax payers cared to count. So far it has succeeded, reaching breakeven a year ahead of schedule and Lufthansa Group announcing its intention to acquire the airline.

Stripped of legacy contracts and costs, the new airline has been able to focus on passenger experience with a fleet of new-generation aircraft.

Through an exclusive agreement with Airbus it has acquired the A350 and A330neo on the widebody side and the A220 and A320 family as its single-aisles.

Part of that strategy includes launching direct flights from London City Airport to its hubs at Milan Linate and Rome Fiumicino on board its smallest plane – the A220. ITA Airways usually offers five daily flights from London City to Milan and two flights to Rome.

ITA offered HfP a return business class flight to Milan to try it out. We paid all of our other costs – Hyatt generously arranged a stay at Park Hyatt Milan which I review here.

Check-in and bag drop at London City Airport

If you have never flown from London City Airport, it is worth a try. It’s compact size means that you can rock up to the airport an hour before departure, whizz through security and still have time to grab a coffee airside before boarding.

The only downside is that there are no lounges. Truthfully, however, you don’t need one. If you are arriving early enough to need one then you are not ‘doing’ it correctly, as the MSP of the airport is the speed at which you can get through.

As I was only heading to Milan for a two-night trip I was only taking my duffel bag so I checked in online and headed straight through security. However, I did walk past the ITA Airways desks. There were no queues for either economy or business class passengers, so you can expect speedy service if you do have bags to drop.

One of the benefits of being a brand-new airline like ITA is that everything, including the app, just works. This is not true of some other airlines whose websites and apps are notoriously rubbish and haven’t worked for me for the past few months ….

On board ITA Airways A220

It just so happened that my flight was on board ITA’s newest A220 aircraft named ‘Gianluigi Buffon’ after the Italian goalkeeper, which was delivered in March 2024. It still had that new plane smell and looked untouched.

We haven’t, yet, written much about the A220. It became the smallest aircraft in the Airbus lineup after the programme was taken over from Bombardier.

Unlike the A320neo, it is a true next-generation single-aisle aircraft, having been designed in the 2010s and launched in 2016. I often describe it as a mini A350, as it shares many features including much larger windows, carbon fibre composites, quieter and more fuel efficient engines, lower cabin altitude and larger overheard bins. All together, it is one of the most comfortable aircraft to fly.

You’ll immediately notice that it’s marginally smaller than its A320 siblings thanks to the 3-2 seating layout. Whilst this is uniform across both business in economy, in business class the middle seat of the triplet is empty whilst both of the twin seats are sold.

ITA has gone with a stylish navy and cream leather seat:

I was sat in 1F, the bulkead window seat with plenty of legroom.

The remaining seats have 31 inches of legroom, which isn’t huge – about 1″ more than Club Europe on BA’s A320s.

There’s a bifold tray table stowed in the armrest for row 1, whilst all other seats have a flip-down table.

In-flight wifi and connectivity

In-flight wifi is available and comes in three price points:

• $5 for messaging
• $10 for browsing
• $15 for streaming

This seemed quite pricey for a 90-minute flight. I opted for the browsing package which was very responsive, to the extent it didn’t feel like plane wifi at all. I was able to browse social media including sending and receiving images and videos and generally browse the web.

Power is available through a USB-C (60W) and USB-A port between the seats. There’s one per passenger.

ITA Airways business class food and service on the A220

The service started with a pre-departure drink of orange juice or water. This is unusual on a short haul flight, so bonus points to ITA Airways, although the orange juice was very sweet and clearly not 100% pure.

Once the plane had flattened out after its steep take-off from London City, crew came round offering lunch.

I’m told that the service varies depending on what time your flight is. Flights during lunch and dinner times feature a hot meal, whilst flights between these periods feature a cold meal comprising three mini sandwiches.

On this short 90 minute trip there was no choice and I was simply handed a tray with a bread roll, salad (containing meat) as well as ravioli in a tomato sauce:

Dessert was (I believe) apple cake. A choice of drinks was offered, although on this particular flight limited to soft drinks – they had forgotten to load any alcohol on the outbound flight from Milan!

I opted for the pear juice, which you rarely see, which was delicious.

Entertainingly, it seems that ITA Airways is using the old cutlery from Alitalia as you can see from the stamp on the underside! It’s not the nicest airline cutlery (I found it a bit sharp on the edges) and it’s something that ITA could easily upgrade.

After lunch, I was offered tea or coffee. The crew also came round with two further snacks. First up was a delicious chocolate cannolo:

…. whilst the second was a small chocolate:

With such a short flight time, it wasn’t long before we started our descent into Milan Linate, the closer and more convenient of the two Milan airports. The airport is small and I was through immigration within a few minutes. Anyone with a British passport will be pleased to know that the Italians let you use the eGates.

Conclusion

It’s hard to beat flying to Milan from London City Airport on an ITA Airways A220.

First of all, you are flying in and out of small, convenient and centrally-located airports. Boarding takes minutes; there are no 20-minute taxis to the runway like at Heathrow and you are through immigration within a heartbeat at the other end.

Second of all, you are flying on the newest short haul aircraft available. The 3-2 layout is perfect regardless of whether you’re travelling as a family or a couple. The seats are comfortable, the windows big, the overhead lockers ample and the aircraft quiet.

Third, you get the ITA Airways service. The crew on my flight were lovely: friendly, happy to be there and constantly offering top ups and snacks.

You can find out more, and book, on the ITA Airways website here. Don’t forget that ITA is part of SkyTeam (sort of …. not all members have integrated it yet) so you can enjoy any Virgin Flying Club elite benefits and vice versa, as well as earn Virgin Atlantic tier points and redeemable Virgin Points.

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