Aerolinee Itavia Flight 870 was a commercial McDonnell Douglas DC-9-15 delivered on 27 February 1972 with the serial number CN45724/22 and registration I-TIGI (Formerly N902H, operated by Hawaiian Airlines). A regularly scheduled transit from Guglielmo Marconi Airport in Bologna to Palermo International Airport in Palermo, Sicily, on 27 June 1980, it departed 2 hours behind its schedule at 20:08 CET (19:08 UTC). The flight was carrying 77 passengers and 4 crew members.