NORTHWEST, ALITALIA PLAN U.S./ITALY ROUTES
Northwest Airlines and Alitalia Airlines, in cooperation with KLM Royal
Dutch Airlines, sad Monday they plan to start daily nonstop Detroit/Rome and Detroit/Milan
flights beginning in April.
The airlines announcement comes just two days after the U.S. Department of
Transportation granted antitrust immunity to Alitalia, which allowed the Italian airline
to join an alliance with Northwest and KLM. The immunity allows the airlines to closely
align their routes and products.
The U.S./Italy services were made possible by the DOT reaching an open skies
agreement with the Italian government last year. U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E.
Slater and Italian Transport Minister Tiziano Treu signed an agreement Tuesday in Chicago
which removed additional barriers to open skies between the two countries.
The Northwest-Alitalia U.S./Italy flights will complement the
transatlantic routes operated by Northwest and KLM. The airlines said last week they will
add a fifth daily nonstop flight between Detroit and
Amsterdam during the peak travel season next summer.