Review: ITA Airways Airbus A220-100 Economy Class

June 24, 2025

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Having never before flown on an Airbus A220, a very good Economy Class fare for travel between London City Airport and Milan’s Linate Airport finally gave me the opportunity to see what this (relatively) new aircraft is like and to review an ITA Airways flight for the first time.

The booking

My roundtrip Economy Light (hand baggage only) booking for travel between London City Airport and Milan cost $161.30 and this gave me the very least that ITA Airways offers – a seat somewhere on the aircraft and a baggage allowance of 1 x 8Kg/17.5Lb carry-on bag + 1 personal item.

a screenshot of a phone — What you get at various fare levels with ITA Airways.

Fortunately, at the time of booking (and at the time of travel), I had ITA Airways Volare Executive (top-tier) status courtesy of a status match that I’d triggered a couple of years ago 9I have no idea why my status was still valid) so even though the ITA website initially showed that it wanted to charge me for seat selection …

screens screenshot of a website — It looked like I would be charged for seat selection.

… I was able to secure an exit row seat for no charge at all.

a screenshot of a seat — ITA top-tier elites get complimentary seat assignments on Light fares.

a screenshot of a video game — I booked seat 10D in the exit row.

This alone made the 5 minutes of work that it took to get the status match very worthwhile 🙂

London City Airport

I arrived at City Airport using the London Underground (subway) and the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and it took me no more than 3 or 4 minutes to get from the platform and to the barriers leading to airport security.

people standing in a building — Boarding pass scanners leading to London City Airport security.

I had checked-in online the day before I was due to fly so I had a mobile boarding pass in my phone and had no need to visit the check-in desk in the departures area, but had I needed to, I doubt I would have been held up for very long as there were no lines to be seen.

a group of people in an airport — ITA Airways check-in at London City Airport.

people standing in a line in a airport — ITA Airways check-in at London City Airport.

There was a short line ahead of me at security, but because London City Airport has the new-style scanners (the one which allow liquids, laptops and tablets to stay packed away), and because those scanners weren’t triggering demands for secondary screening, I was through security and at the airport’s cafes, restaurants and shops less than 10 minutes after I had got off the DLR.

Once airside, I picked up a sandwich, a drink and a snack and I headed to the gate (there are no lounges in the main terminal of London City Airport).

At the gate and boarding

By the time I reached the gate, it was already quite busy and it felt a little chaotic as passengers crowded around the gate agents’ desk and the tensa barriers (the concept of boarding groups seemed to be an alien concept to a lot of the people present).

a group of people standing in a line — The concept of waiting until your boarding group is called was an alien one to these people.

Despite this, when it came time to board, the gate agents were very good at calling one group at a time and rejecting those passengers for whom numbers had suddenly become more confusing than quantum physics and who tried to board ahead of their group number.

Boarding was called about 25 minutes before our scheduled departure time and because City Airport doesn’t use jet bridges, passengers were invited to walk down some stairs to the airport apron where we were asked to wait to be given clearance to walk to the aircraft.

a plane on the tarmac — View as as you board at London City Airport.

Once clearance was given, we were invited to cross to the aircraft and to board by either the front or the rear doors of the aircraft (which door you boarded by was dictated by your seat row).

ITA Airways Airbus A220 Economy Class cabin

The ITA Airways Airbus A220 offers a 2-3 seating arrangement regardless of where you are in the aircraft and the seats in the Business Class section are (mostly) no different to the seats in Economy Class.

This allows ITA to move the curtain dividing Economy Class from Business Class and alter the number of seats that it is willing to sell in each cabin with no trouble at all.

a man standing in a row of seats — ITA Airways A220-100 Cabin.

All seats offer a 4-way adjustable headrest, all seats are 18″ wide and all seats other than the seats in row 1 and exit row seats offer 30″ of pitch (legroom).

a black and white leather object on a tan surface — 4-way adjustable headrest.

seats in an airplane with a window — A standard row of seats.

seats in an airplane with seats — 30″ of pitch at a standard row.

The seats in the exit row offer a very generous 38″ of pitch and that’s why they’re easily the best seats in the Economy Class cabin.

the seats in an airplane — The exit row.

a row of seats in an airplane — 38″ of pitch in the exit row.

As you may have noticed, most of the seats in this aircraft have moveable armrests, but the exit row seats do not. This is because while the regular seats have their tray tables deploy from the back of the seat ahead of them …

a close up of a seat — Regular seat with tray table stowed in the seat ahead. ahead.

… the tray tables for the exit row seats (and the seats in row 1) deploy out of the armrests and are very small.

a seat on a plane — Exit row seat with tray table stowed in the armrest.

a tray on a plane — Exit row tray table.

an airplane seat with a seat open — small exit row tray table.

Another difference between the regular seats and the exit row seats is that the passengers in the regular seats have access to a USB-A and a USB-C port directly ahead of them …

… while the USB-A and USB-C ports for the exit rows are under the seats.

The final key difference between the standard seats and the exit row seats is that the standard seats have a working tablet holder in the seat back ahead of them while the table holders in the exit row do not appear to deploy (at least, I couldn’t get mine to open and neither could two other people in the row).

To make up for this, however, there is a table rest built into the exit row’s tray tables.

a seat in an airplane — Table rest in the exit row tray table.

Above each row of seats the A220-100 offers individual seat lights and air vents/nozzles so passengers have a little bit of control over the temperature around their seat.

a close up of a panel — Individual lights and air vents for each seat.

Lastly (as far as the A220’s cabin goes), it’s worth noting that the overhead bins are large and seem to be able to hold more luggage than the aircraft’s size suggests they may hold.

a white object on a plane — Large overhead bins in the A220.

This didn’t make much difference on this flight as the aircraft wasn’t full, but on busy days/routes this could be what saves a few people from having to gate-check their bags.

The flight/experience

The aircraft doors were closed at almost exactly our scheduled departure time, we were taxiing towards the London City Airport runway not long after that, and we were in the air just a few minutes later. No waiting.

Soon after we levelled out, the two flight attendants working in the Economy Class cabin began the limited complimentary drinks & snacks service offered on this flight.

Coke, orange juice, pear juice, and water were the complimentary drinks I saw, but there were a few other available that I missed. Hot drinks were not an option on this flight so if you think you’re going to need a caffeine fix, make sure you get a coffee in the terminal before you board.

As far as snacks go, there was a choice between a pre-packed canolo and some kind of salted crackers/chips/crisps.

a cup of liquid and a snack on a table a package of food on a napkin

That was it. Not exactly a feast fit for a king, but this Economy Class on an intra-Europe flight, so it’s to be expected, and this is more than you’d get on a British Airways flight of a similar distance.

I was happy to note that the ITA Airways A220-100 aircraft offers inflight wifi which, apparently, can be accessed via a QR code that you’ll see on the seats ahead of you …

a qr code on a grey object — QR code for wifi access.

… but despite each of my devices finding the wifi network, none of them managed to connect and, eventually, the wifi network seemed to disappear altogether.

a screenshot of a computer — Couldn’t access the wifi’s login page.

I’m reasonably sure that no one else on the flight had any luck with the wifi either, so as the same issue also arose on the flight back, either ITA is choosing not to offer wifi on this route (a decision which would be odd) or I was very unlucky to find myself on two aircraft on which the wifi was inoperative.

That’s really all there is to report from the flight – not much happens in Economy Class on short-haul routes.

We landed in Linate around 15 minutes early and parked up at a remote stand (the airport only has a handful of jet bridges) before being bused to the terminal.

Final thoughts

On a flight of this length (sub 2 hours), the slimline seats felt comfortable and with 18″ of width feel noticeably more spacious than the slightly narrower seats you’ll find on a lot of larger European short-haul aircraft.

The cabin, as a whole, also feels spacious (that could be down to the larger-than-usual windows that the A220 has fitted) and the overall travel experience offered by this cabin feels nicer than what I frequently experience on BA’s A319/A320 aircraft.

The A220 is smaller than the A319 or an A320, but somehow it feels less cramped than either of those aircraft and, possibly because the A220 holds fewer people, there was less of a “cattle-class” feeling to the whole experience. It was nice.

Yes, the malfunctioning wifi was a little annoying (I had planned to work on the flight), the tray table was very small, and I’m not sure how well the cream upholstery will age, but those three things aside, there’s nothing to really criticise here.

Boarding was efficient, the crew were friendly, the on board drinks and snacks were on a par with my expectations (and better than what BA offers), I didn’t feel squashed into my seat, and I arrived in Milan early. In my world, that’s a very good trip 🙂

Conclusion

I like the ITA Airways A220-100 and the Economy Cabin that it offers, and given that the airline operates this aircraft out of my favorite London Airport to two of my favorite European cities, I’ll be booking another trip as soon as I get a chance.

Given how hectic and chaotic modern travel can sometimes feel (especially if you not in a premium cabin), this route on this aircraft feels surprisingly civilised, and that’s probably as big a compliment as I can pay to what is, after all, a pretty basic service.

Our Favourite Luggage

a man and woman standing next to luggage

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