Cargoitalia celebrates inaugural Milan-Atlanta flight

Cargoitalia has celebrated its inaugural flight from Milan, Italy, to Atlanta, US. The airline’s first flight to Atlanta – on 3 February – carried a black Ferrari 458 and the latest Italian designer goods, while the return cargo included car parts for Germany.

The aircraft was welcomed to Atlanta by the city’s mayor, Kasim Reed, as well as aviation general manager Louis Miller, city councilman C.T Martin, and 40 other guests.

During the event, Cargoitalia’s commercial director Roberto Gilardoni thanked Mayor Reed for his support for the new service.

Mayor Reed said: “Our relationship with Roberto and Cargoitalia is very important to me because it shows that Atlanta is taking another step to be a leading cargo airport destination.”

Cargoitalia is now operating twice weekly between Milan and Atlanta, and views its main potential export commodities from Milan as fashion goods, machinery and automotive parts.

Textiles, manufactured goods and transit shipments to the Middle East are expected to make up the bulk of traffic from Atlanta. International air cargo from Atlanta grew 24.2% from 2009 to 2010.

Gilardoni said: “Cargoitalia now has the ability to cover the southern states, and also to attract transhipment traffic to and from central and south America. We are grateful for the enthusiasm and support of Atlanta Airport and the local government for our new services, and we are very optimistic about the future potential for this latest Cargoitalia gateway.”

Cargoitalia was re-launched under new ownership in April 2009. In May 2009, the airline took delivery of its first MD11SF freighter.

Later that year, it acquired a second MD11SF and commenced ad hoc charter operations, before launching scheduled operations to Hong Kong and New York.

In early 2010, the airline added Dubai and Chicago to its destination network and took delivery of its third MD11 freighter. Cargoitalia commenced twice-weekly flights to Shanghai in September 2010.