Best of Italian Airlines...

How to Find a Great Deal

There are many Italian airlines that most people don't know about yet many of them can offer you an incredible deal if you know where to look. This online guide will list some of the most important ones and give you a rough idea on the large scope of airlines available in Italy.

We've had great success in finding amazing deals on airfare to and from Italy by using an online search engine such as skyscanner. Sometimes I've even found free fares and only had to pay for the airport tax - like in my most recent trip from Lake Como (Milan Bergamo) to the UK (London Gatwick).

Each site has a 'special offers' link where you can learn about their latest deals. This works great if you can fit your travels inside the dates that they require you to fly in.

Traveling Transatlantic? We've created a separate page for cheap transatlantic flights to Italy here.

The Main Airline of Italy

Alitalia is the national airline of Italy. Check their site often for the latest deals especially around major holidays. They fly over a huge range of destinations, spanning 4 continents. Some of their services include fast check-in, VIP launches, in-flight food and beverages and entertainment.

CAUTION! Italian airlines are infamous for going on strike. I have been caught in this situation a few times. One time I arrived at the train station in Milan, trying to get back to Lake Como, only to see long lines of tourists and commuters appear before empty platforms.

Fortunately, you can find out ahead of time on the internet if Italy airlines or other forms of transportation will be under a strike.

One such site is Rome Travel Cafe - and click on 'Strike Information'. This simple step could save you a lot of pain!

Cheap Airfare and Other Italian Airlines

If you are interested in finding cheap airfare, Italy has many smaller airports near major cities that you can often fly to for a fraction of the cost. It has to do with the amount of airport tax that every airport adds to your airfare ticket price. The larger the airport - like Milan or Rome, the more airport tax you will have to pay.

For example, to get to Lake Como, there are three airports nearby. Milan has two major airports, Malpensa and Linate, but nearby Bergamo also has an airport that host numerous cheap airlines. A good online search engine which compares the fares of many different booking sites and airlines such as skyscanner can immediately check for all nearby airports with just one query.

Click here to read more about the secrets of finding cheap airfare in Italy

So...just what are some of the budget Italian airlines in Italy?

Here is a compiled list of airlines based in Italy that provide cheap airfare...

• AlpiEagles flies to Italy from Albania, France, Greece, Romania, Sardinia, Sicily and Spain.
• Blu Express flies to Italy from Austria, France, Libya, and Pantelleria.
• eVolaVia flies to Italy from France and Russia.
• Meridiana flies to Italy from Crete, Czech Republic, France, Hungary, Ibiza, Kosovo, Malta, Moldova, Mykonos, Netherlands, Pantellaria, Sardinia, Spain, Tenerife and the U.K.
• MyAir flies to Italy from Bulgaria, France, Ibiza, Lampedusa, Mallorca, Morocco, Romania, Sardinia, Spain and Turkey.
• On Air flies to Italy from Belgium, Crete, Croatia, France, Germany, Romania and Ukraine.
• One Air flies to Italy from Austria, Crete, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Spain and the U.K.
• Wind Jet flies to Italy from France, Greece, Romania, Russia, Spain and Zakynthos.

Cheap Transatlantic Flights

If you want to cross the Atlantic with cheap airfare, Italy does not have a great variety of direct flights although you may occasionally catch a good deal on Alitalia, British Airways or some other major airlines. You can check their websites directly to see if there is any special going on.

However, we have discovered that DoHop consistenly offers incredible deals on transatlantic airfares as it browses through consolidator airfares, promotional fares, discount airlines and virtually every other trick out there! It even cleverly combines regular airlines with discount ones creating unbelievably low fares.

There are also several airlines that offer cheap transatlantic flights into the UK and from there you could get on a cheap flight into Italy. DoHop can usually pull these deals out for you but here are four such airlines you can check our for yourself: flyglobespan.com, flyzoom.com, CanadianAffair.com, Airtransat.com,and VirginAtlantic.com.

One Final Thought...

Several Italians have told me this joke about Italian airlines...

On one particular flight with Alitalia, passengers were relaxing and enjoying their meals when all of a sudden the pilot announced the following message:

"Dear passengers, we regrettably inform you that we have to make a forced landing in water...

"For the passengers on the right - please grab a flotation device underneath your seat and follow the signs to your nearest exit.

"For the passengers on the left - thank you for flying Alitalia!"

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