When passengers boarded ITA Airways flight AZ855 from Dakar to Rome Fiumicino on the night of April 29, no one could have predicted the remarkable scenes that would unfold just an hour into the journey.
A woman in her seventh month of pregnancy, well before her due date, went into labour unexpectedly, delivering her baby boy mid-flight in what has become a truly once-in-a-lifetime moment for everyone on board.
The newborn, arriving earlier than nature had planned, is now in perfect health and holds the distinction of being the first baby ever born on an ITA Airways aircraft.
The delivery was made possible by a remarkable coming-together of people in the skies above the Atlantic. The airline’s cabin crew responded swiftly and professionally, while two fellow passengers, a doctor and a nurse, stepped up to assist with the birth.
ITA Airways has since extended its warm thanks to both medical professionals for their vital role in the extraordinary event.
As for the paperwork that awaits this little arrival? His parents will face one of the more unusual boxes to tick on a passport application. Country of birth: somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean, cruising altitude 35,000 feet, in Italian airspace that happened to be above nobody’s airspace at all. There is no dropdown menu for that.
“A joyful and unexpected event brightened the day at ITA Airways,” the Italian carrier said in a statement released April 30, 2026, adding that the airline wishes the baby boy “a wonderful life filled with joy.”
ITA Airways, Italy’s national carrier and a member of Star Alliance, operates routes connecting Italy to destinations across Africa, Europe and beyond. Flight AZ855 is a regular service between the Senegalese capital and Rome’s Fiumicino Airport.
For travellers, it’s a reminder that air travel, even on the most routine of journeys, can still deliver the unexpected. In this case, quite literally.
