Pope Francis will take off for the first time on December 2 with Ita Airways, the new national airline. The papal flight will take off at 11:00 a.m., from Rome Fiumicino to Larnaca, Cyprus.
The flight will be operated by an Airbus A320 with the “Born in 2021” celebration layout, created by ITA Airways to celebrate the launch of flight operations on October 15, 2021.
ITA CEO Alfredo Altavilla, CEO and Managing Director Fabio Maria Lazzerini and Commercial Director Emiliana Limosani will be at Fiumicino airport to welcome the Holy Father on board.
The flight is scheduled to land at Larnaca airport at 15:00 local time. Accompanying Pope Francis will be a crew of 9 people, three pilots, and six flight attendants.
The supervisor of the activities onboard will be Commander Riccardo Privitera,
Director of Flight Operations of ITA Airways with 18,000 flight hours of experience. Together with him will be Corrado Di Maria and First Officer Michele Altobelli. Representatives of the Italian and international press will also travel with Pope Francis, in addition to the papal delegation.
The ITA Airways team dedicated to special flights will also be on board.
“It is an honor and a great pride for us to accompany the Holy Father on his trip to Cyprus”, said Fabio Maria Lazzerini, CEO and Managing Director of ITA Airways.
“We are an airline that placed sustainability at the center of its strategy and this is one more reason to be pleased to bring the Holy Father, who constantly recalls these values in his words. We started our flight operations just over a month ago and every day we work towards being an efficient and innovative carrier and representing our country around the world”, he concluded.
