All three of the big American carriers decided to expand their services to Italy for Summer 2025.
These exciting developments from Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and American Airlines, all serve the reinforce the Italy-United States market that is not only important but also lacks sufficient numbers of direct flights.
This is slowly but surely changing. Because ITA Airways and Neos are virtually the only premium airlines in Europe that can feasibly expand on the direct flight market (since others like Air France-KLM don’t have resources stationed in Italy to facilitate transatlantic flights), the potential for expansion is limited.
Based on Cirium data, the following airlines will be offering flights between the United States and Italy next summer, ranked based on the number of seats available in August 2025:
- Delta Air Lines: 265,000 seats
- American Airlines: 204,000 seats
- United Airlines: 184,000 seats
- ITA Airways: 154,000 seats
- Norse Atlantic Airways: 33,000 seats
- Emirates: 32,000 seats
- Neos: 13,000 seats
- La Compagnie: 3,300 seats
Clearly, the largest airlines are American companies, while the flag carrier of Italy, ITA Airways, lags behind. This is quite concerning for Italy as it means its transcontinental networks are largely non-European operated.
Much to the joy of the American companies that can leverage Italy to maintain their overall market share on transatlantic markets.
Compared to 2024, there are some noteworthy changes. First and foremost, while Delta maintains the top spot, American Airlines comes in second place this year, beating United.
This comes despite all three American carriers increasing their flights on the sector, to the tune of the following amounts (in terms of seats):
- Delta Air Lines: 22.5% (48,800 seats)
- American Airlines: 25.4% (41,000 seats)
- United Airlines: 9.5% (16,000 seats)
Looking to try the most authentic Italian pizza? American Airlines plans to operate double-daily to Naples International Airport (NAP) next summer. It will offer Boeing 787-8 flights from Philadelphia (PHL) and Chicago O’Hare International Airport (ORD). Per Cirium, the details of the flights look as follows (using August 2025):
|
Origin |
Seats (each way) |
Start date |
|---|---|---|
|
PHL |
7,200 |
May 5 |
|
ORD |
7,200 |
May 6 |
The Chicago service is brand new and follows “the great success of the direct connection to Philadelphia” which began last summer. José Freig, Vice President of American’s International Operations, said:
“We are thrilled to offer even more choices to reach Naples, the Amalfi Coast and other popular destinations throughout Southern Italy to passengers from the United States. The new flight between Naples and Chicago helps strengthen our European network, in addition to our extensive presence in Italy, and also underscores our commitment to improving international connectivity for passengers on both sides of the Atlantic.”
American Airlines will be the largest US carrier operating to Naples. Delta and United both offer flights to the US as well, although each to a lesser overall frequency or capacity.
- Delta Air Lines: Atlanta (ATL; four weekly with an A330-200), New York (JFK; daily with an A330-200)
- United Airlines: Newark (EWR; double-daily with a 767-300, offering around 10,000 seats)
