When Alitalia ceased its operation back in October, its loyalty programme, MilleMiglia, was also shut down. Indeed, the European Commission imposed that the frequent flyer programme (FFP) had to be closed to guarantee discontinuity between the NewCo, ITA Airways, and Alitalia. However, the FFP is a fundamental asset for a Full-Service Carrier (FSC). Hence the birth of Volare, the new loyalty programme of ITA Airways.
Volare
“Volare” is the brand new loyalty programme by ITA Airways, beginning on October 15 2021, when the NewCo also started its operations.
The four core values of this programme are:
- Freedom: the aim is that of offering maximum flexibility to customers. Volare is a revenue-based programme, which means that points are accumulated based on the overall expenditure rather than the distance travelled. For each purchase, the customer gets points, from 10 to 23 per euro spent. Multipliers apply based on the level of membership, the route, flight class, and ticket purchased. Furthermore, there are no limits to the redemption of points for award tickets, meaning that any class, fare, and route will be redeemable, on any date.
- Choice: as ITA is part of the SkyTeam alliance, all the services available for ITA customers will soon be extended to the SkyTeam partners. Moreover, ITA is working on a business expansion strategy, which will allow Volare members to enjoy even more products and services on which they can accrue and redeem points.
- Connection: Volare has an innovative, digital approach to customers.
- Personalisation: Volare consists of four exclusive clubs:
- Club Smart: lets the customer accumulate points with every purchase on ITA Airways flights and soon, on ITA’s partners.
- Club Plus: the access threshold is 30,000 points, plus there is an accrual multiplier of 10%. This level offers extra baggage services, priority benefits, such as check-in, boarding, transfer desks, and dedicated customer service.
- Club Premium: the access threshold is 60,000 points. The accrual multiplier is 20%. This level offers entrance to lounges, free fast track, free assigned seat, extra baggage, priority baggage, boarding, check-in, transfer desk, and dedicated customer service.
- Club Executive: the access threshold is 90,000 points, the accrual multiplier is 30%. Besides all the benefits of the club premium, it also offers a physical card and welcome gift.
Volare already has 275,000 subscribers, both from Italy and abroad. 40,000 of the total subscribers are elite members (Clubs Plus, Premium, and Executive).
ITA Airways and Summer 2022
Next summer, ITA Airways will fly to 64 destinations, of which 23 are national, 34 international, and seven intercontinental. The latter destinations will be served by the brand new A350s and the A330s.
New intercontinental connections include Miami and Boston, Los Angeles, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and Tokyo. These destinations will be served from Rome Fiumicino, with increasing flights scheduled for the summer season. The only long-haul flight from Milan (Malpensa) will be New York JFK, which is also available from Rome Fiumicino.
Moreover, ITA is also expanding its international network, focusing on leisure destinations in the Mediterranean, including Italy, Greece, Spain, and Croatia. Lastly, the 20 codeshare agreements ITA has signed so far will enable its customers to reach 248 destinations worldwide.
Operational facts
As of February 15, 2022, 96.9% of ITA flights landed on time, while 99.9% of the operations were completed regularly. In January, ITA was the first airline in Europe in terms of punctuality and the first in the world for regularity of operations.
What do you think of ITA’s new loyalty programme? Let us know in the comment below!
