The first flight of the ‘new Alitalia’ took off today from New York JFK at 01:35 ‘Zulu time’ - the time conventionally adopted by the aviation industry, corresponding to 02:35 Italian local time - and landed in Milan Malpensa at 10.40.

Some 3.2 billion passengers used air transport for their business and tourism needs in 2014, according to preliminary figures on scheduled services released by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

Service to Jacksonville is twice daily, while Fort Myers and West Palm Beach will enjoy daily service. This year, JetBlue has significantly increased its presence at Reagan National, adding a total of six routes and also increasing frequencies in existing markets.

The first flight on the new Air Canada route from Montreal to Curacao starts on Thursday, January 1, according to the Curacao Tourist Board (CTB). The additional flight from Canada was announced in late June. There is already a flight to and from Toronto.

To meet high demand to two of its most popular leisure destinations, Sir Richard Branson’s airline is adding 24 additional flights to Orlando and Las Vegas, amounting to over 8,000 additional departure seats for the summer season.