Source: ITA Airways – Italia Transporto Aereo
The second aircraft sporting the new blue livery has joined the ITA Airways fleet. It is an Airbus A319 dedicated to the Olympic champion Pietro Mennea, who was known with the nickname of “The Arrow of the South” and was the man of records in terms of speed. A gold medalist in Moscow, Pietro is the only 200-metre runner to have qualified for five consecutive Olympic Games (from 1972 to 1988) and, he is the holder of two important records set back in 1979: the world record for the 200 metres run achieved in 19″72, which was beaten in 1996 but is still a record at European level after more than 40 years; and the European record for the 100 metres run with 10″01 which was improved at national level only in 2018.
The Airbus A319 dedicated to Pietro Mennea joins the ITA Airways fleet just a few weeks after the debut of the Airbus A320 named after Paolo Rossi. The new aircraft will be operational from January 14, 2022.
ITA Airways continues its strategy of naming new aircrafts after the greatest Italian sportsmen, who were ambassadors in the world of professionalism, determination, strength and passion – all values that have raised the Italian flag high.
One of the fundamental pillars in ITA Airways’ business plan is to put the customer at the center of its business. Precisely for this reason, the Company invited fans on its social networks to choose the names of the champions for the upcoming aircrafts with new livery that will soon join its fleet.
The new livery of ITA Airways is characterized by the blue color, chosen as a symbol of unity, cohesion and pride of the country and representative of sports and the Italian national team. On the rudder the tricolor, on the blue background the white and red gold logo of ITA Airways and stylized icons inspired by the national artistic heritage