Today, Alitalia has collected the first aircraft of its ordered supply of 19 A320s from the Airbus Industrie plant of Toulouse.

The new aircraft to be operated by Alitalia Team - is an extremely adaptable model and can easily and cost effectively be used on European, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern routes. Alitalia Team already has 22 A321s in its fleet and, based on the operational interchangeability of these types of aircraft, it will be able to optimise their use, in line with market demand.

The A320 is part of an Airbus product family whose individual models differ in terms of unit capacity and distance covered, but are virtually the same in terms of technology and avionics (Fly-By-Wire systems).

The A320 aircraft uses two CFM International engines model CFM 56-5B4/P with a 27,000 lb unit thrust. Individual deliveries of Airbus A320s are scheduled as follows:

1999—2
2000—4
2001—5
2002—4
2003—4
A320s will be given the names of famous Italian and European classical music composers. The aircraft collected today will be named after JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH.

For this type of aircraft, Alitalia has chosen a 131-147 convertible seat configuration consisting of:

* a business class extendable to 72 seats maximum and a seat-to-seat distance of 86 cm (34 in) and a seat recline of 34¡

* an economy class of 59 seats with a seat-to-seat distance of 81 cm (32 in)

Alitalia has been an Airbus customer since 1980 (A300s). In 1989 Alitalia launched the A321 model and is currently the largest A321 operator in the world.

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