I-BUSes: Alitalia A300s

Alitalia had a diverse fleet during the 1970s and 80s as it bought new aircraft to replace older types but then sold them on at quite a young age. In fact it had already passed up Airbuses new widebody A300 once in the mid-1970s only to come back round to the type in the late 70s. It would go on to be the mainstay of its high density short and medium haul routes for nearly 20 years.

Alitalia A300B4 I-BUSP Aeroclassics 1:400 Scale Model Airliner

As we saw in part 1 Alitalia had looked at the new Airbus widebody in the mid-1970s but settled on the tried and trusted Boeing 727-200 Advanced rather than the no doubt riskier, and certainly larger A300. However as more 727s were bought in 1978/79 the Airbus A300 got a second chance and secured an order for 8 frames with Alitalia also. This change of heart appears to have been caused by the need to begin replacement of Alitalia's DC-8-62 fleet. The range of the Airbus widebody was deemed perfect for Central African and Persian Gulf routes whilst its capacity made it ideal for European trunk routes like those to Heathrow. Indeed the A300 had the last laugh over the 727. Along with the MD-80s it was to be the A300 that would provide the backbone of the airline's medium haul fleet for the next twenty years and not the trijet.

The first A300B4 to join the Alitalia fleet was registered I-BUSB and all of the carrier's A300s would have suitably appropriate BUS registrations. BUSB joined in April 1980 and was followed in quick succession by I-BUSC, SD, SF, SG, SH, SJ and SL. The 8 remaining DC-8-62s had all left the fleet by 1982 with the last A300, I-BUSL, arriving in late February.

Alitalia was obviously content with its A300s, and in fact the airline also retired its DC-10s at about the same time - partly replaced by 747s and partly no doubt by the A300s. As the 1980s drew to a close Alitalia took the opportunity to add to the fleet when it purchased 6 former Eastern Air Lines aircraft. From September 1988 to March 1990 these frames took up the Italian registrations I-BUSM, SN, SP, SQ, SR and ST. Their arrival no doubt assisted to manage the increased traffic related to the Italia 90 Football World Cup.

Alitalia A300B4 I-BUSP Aeroclassics 1:400 Scale Model Airliner

I-BUSP, the aircraft depicted by the model above, had first flown as F-WZEP in October 1978 and became N207EA with Eastern in December. In Italian service she was named 'Masaccio' after a great Italian painter from the Renaissance. Indeed several of the fleet took up the names of painters - I-BUSC for example was 'Botticelli and I-BUSQ was 'Michaelangelo'. The ex-Eastern A300s saw about a decade of service in Italy and were all retired from 1997-98 along with the original aircraft. They were replaced in service with a mixture of Airbus A321s and Boeing 767-300s.

References

Dienel, H & Lyth, P. Flying the Flag: European Commercial Air Transport since 1945
Sweetman, B. 1976, December. Alitalia climbs out with crossed fingers. Flight International
RZjets.net - Alitalia A300s