As part of the SkyTeam global alliance signed in Rome on July 27, 2001, Alitalia and Delta Air Lines have reached an agreement enabling the two companies to operate all services between Italy and the United States as code-sharing flights.

As of November 15, the two companies will jointly offer 72 flights a week between Italy and the USA, of which 49 will be operated by Alitalia and 23 by Delta Air Lines.

In more detail, the Delta and Alitalia codes will be side by side on two AZ flights leaving Rome every day for New York (one to JFK, the other to Newark) and on five AZ flights every day leaving Milan-Malpensa for New York-JFK, Boston, Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles.The Alitalia code will appear alongside that of Delta on two DL flights leaving Rome every day, one for New York-JFK, the other for Atlanta; on the DL flight departing Milan-Malpensa for New York-JFK (five times a week) and on the DL flight departing Venice for New York-JFK (four times a week).

All these flights use Boeing B767 aircraft, except for the Milan/Miami and Milan/Los Angeles flights operated by Alitalia, which use MD11 combi`s.
The agreement also includes code-sharing flights for 120 domestic destinations in the United States (Houston, San Francisco, Washington, Detroit, Philadelphia and more) served by Delta Air Lines, and for 31 domestic and international destinations served by Alitalia from Italy. The two companies will jointly offer more than 500 code-sharing flights every day.

The partnership will make it possible to increase the number of seats available on one of the most important and remunerative routes in the Alitalia network, which is also of considerable strategic importance to Delta Air Lines. In the first six months of 2001, Alitalia carried more than 715,000 passengers to/from the USA with a load factor of 79%. In the same period, Delta Air Lines carried more than 205,000 passengers with a load factor of 71.5%.

The reciprocal agreements already in force for the “Frequent Flyer” programmes will enable passengers flying with the two companies to earn miles more rapidly. Accrued miles can be used to claim award tickets for any destination in the combined Alitalia and Delta Air Lines network.
Now that Alitalia has joined SkyTeam, the alliance offers more than 8,000 flights a day to 500 destinations in 120 countries.

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