Air Malta has announced its signing of a “comprehensive” codeshare partnership with newly-founded ITA Airways.

This new commercial partnership, which applies to flights departing from Sunday 31st October, is expected to boost business travel and tourism between Italy and Malta and will offer customers more options and better flight schedules when travelling through the two airlines’ hubs in Rome and Luqa, Malta.

Following this agreement, ITA Airways’ and Air Malta’s customers can now fly seamlessly to their desired destination with a single ‘unique’ ticket, checking-in at the airport of departure, and collecting their checked-through baggage at the end of their trip in the arrival airport.

ITA Airways will apply its ‘AZ’ code on all services operated by Air Malta between Italy and Malta. Similarly, Air Malta will codeshare AZ flights between Malta and Rome, connecting Italian domestic services beyond Rome Fiumicino Airport and Milan Linate and selected connecting international services.

Commenting on this agreement Roy Kinnear, Air Malta’s Chief Commercial Officer said: “We are very excited with this new code- share agreement that connects us to a wide selection of airports in Italy and beyond. Italy is one of Air Malta’s most important markets and this agreement will enhance our reach in the Italian market.

“We intend to continue working and increase our cooperation with ITA Airways to bring more benefits to our customers.”

On the part of the Italian airline, Chief of Network, Fleet and Alliances Andrea Benassi said: “We are very pleased with this code share agreement with Air Malta. ITA Airways is seeking valuable partnerships to support this important start up period and this agreement goes in the right direction.”

The new codeshare flights are now available for sale through the airlines’ respective websites (itaspa.com and airmalta.com), reservation systems and in travel agencies.