Etihad Airways will be the Official Global Carrier to Expo Milano 2015 alongside Italian flag-carrier Alitalia

Alitalia and Etihad Airways, the Official Global Carriers of Expo Milano 2015, have announced tickets for the highly anticipated six-month event can be purchased through their websites and contact centres from today.

A special early-bird promotion is also underway for Expo Milano 2015 attendees, with a generous discount of 20 per cent available on all tickets purchased before April 2015.

As Official Global Carriers of the event, which runs from May 1st to October 31st 2015, Alitalia and Etihad Airways will play a key role in bringing international visitors to Expo Milano 2015.

It is estimated that eight million people will fly to Italy for the event.

Ariodante Valeri, chief commercial officer at Alitalia, said: “Alitalia is proud to be associated with Expo Milano 2015.

“As part of our commitment to enhance tourism and trade in Italy, we will provide excellent travel connections that will encourage visitors to attend Expo Milano 2015 and therefore create strong demand for ticket sales.”

Alitalia will triple its service frequency between Italy and Abu Dhabi in March 2015 with new daily services from Milan and Venice.

As a result, the two airlines will offer a combined 35 frequencies per week between Italy and Abu Dhabi, with double-daily flights to Milan and Rome, and a daily service to Venice.

Peter Baumgartner, chief commercial officer at Etihad Airways, said: “As Italy prepares to welcome visitors from all corners of the world to its landmark Expo Milano 2015 event, Etihad Airways and Alitalia are delighted to support the event as its Official Global Carriers.

“In addition to enhancing our travel connections between Italy and key destinations worldwide, today’s ticket sale launch will be followed by a range of exciting promotional offers in the coming months to optimise global participation.”

Etihad Airways will codeshare on Alitalia’s new Milan and Venice routes and connect the services to other destinations across its international network.

Its ‘EY’ code was also recently added to 15 of Alitalia’s domestic Italy routes, as well as additional routes beyond Rome within Europe, offering travellers even more choice and convenience.

Furthermore, Alitalia will offer a number of new routes for summer 2015, especially on its intercontinental network, enhancing the opportunities for visitors to reach Expo Milano 2015.

Both airlines will exhibit at next year’s Expo with a joint pavilion measuring 1,150 square metres. Empowered by modern technology, visitors to the Alitalia and Etihad Airways pavilion will be encouraged to delve into the social media world and learn more about the airlines’ destinations, aircraft, products and services, as well as the event’s key themes.

Etihad Airways was recently recognised as the World’s Leading Airline for the sixth consecutive year by the World Travel Awards.