ITA Airways (AZ, Rome Fiumicino) has intimated on its social media channels that the first A350-900 in its fleet will depart Rome Fiumicino on June 1, 2022, bound for Los Angeles International.

The new-generation widebody performed its first flight in the Alitalia successor’s metallic blue livery at Airbus’s headquarters at Toulouse Blagnac, ITA announced in posts on April 20 and 21.

“First takeoff of the Airbus A350 from Toulouse airport. It’s just a little time before we welcome you on board! Have you booked your June 1st flight to Los Angeles yet?” one of the posts said.

ch-aviation schedules analysis shows that beyond California, ITA also plans to deploy its A350s on the following sectors from its Rome hub:

ITA Airways’ chief executive, Fabio Lazzerini, revealed last November that the carrier would take delivery of its first of four A350s in June 2022. It currently has eight of the type due to be delivered, the ch-aviation fleets module shows.

According to ch-aviation analysis of Flightradar24 ADS-B data, one of the A350s, F-WZFT (msn 270), made a three-hour flight departing and arriving at Toulouse on the afternoon of April 20.

A 2018 build, the aircraft had been intended for Hong Kong Airlines (HX, Hong Kong International), but the cash-strapped Asian carrier never collected it. The aircraft will be re-registered as EI-IFB.

State-owned ITA Airways’ current widebody fleet comprises eight leased A330-200s that were inherited from Alitalia. The airline does not currently operate to Los Angeles, the ch-aviation capacities module shows.