By
Rebecca Gibson |
Costa Cruises has signed a three-year agreement with Italian airline Alitalia to enable it to offer ‘fly & cruise’ packages to its passengers.
Between 2015 and 2018, Costa will be guaranteed 100,000 airline seats on Alitalia’s scheduled and charter flights for passengers flying from Italy to various of the line’s embarkation ports around the world.
In total, Alitalia will offer flights from 27 Italian airports to the port of Pointe a Pitre in Guadeloupe, Caribbean; PortMiami, US; the United Arab Emirates; Warnemunde-Rostock, Germany; Amsterdam, Netherlands; Copenhagen, Denmark; Stockholm; Sweden; and Trieste, Italy.
“There is a well-established relationship in place with Alitalia, which takes on significant value for our guests who are looking for Italian style at all times during their travel experience,” said Neil Palomba, president of Costa Cruises. “This new agreement underlines our focus on customer service, characterised by the offer of solutions with increased comfort, but also the ability to innovate and to create a system of two Italian companies which represent an essential engine for the growth of tourism in Italy.”
Costa’s guests will be offered an exclusive check-in service on both charter and scheduled flights, as well as boarding passes for all flights through to their final destination. They will also be able to leave baggage at the departure airport and it will be brought to their cabin onboard the ship.
Meanwhile, guests departing from Warnemunde-Rostock airport will be able to drop off their luggage at the airport the evening before they disembark the ship, and get boarding passes for their return flight while onboard the ship.
“What we are presenting today with Costa is an agreement of great value between two companies at the forefront of Italian tourism around the world,” said Ariodante Valeri, COO of Alitalia. “In order to give new impetus to tourism, in an increasingly competitive global market, now more than ever, we need to create a system – institutions, large enterprises, trade and services – and the agreement between Alitalia and Costa Crociere is heading in this direction.”