Alitalia  Compagnia Aerea Italiana S.p.A. (English: Alitalia Italian Air Company), operating as Alitalia, is an Italian airline, which took over the name, the landing rights, many planes and some other assets from the liquidation process of the old Alitalia Linee Aeree Italiane and the entire Air One. The company has its head office in Fiumicino, Italy.^[2][3] Its main hub is Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, Rome.

Alitalia is Italy's biggest airline, and the world's 19th.^[4] Its fleet operates under five separate Air Operator Certificates due to the CAI merger: Alitalia-CAI (Alitalia) [IATA Code AZ], Alitalia CityLiner (formerly Air One Cityliner) [IATA Code CT], Air One Smart Carrier [IATA Code AP], CAI-First (formerly Alitalia Express) [IATA Code XM], and CAI-Second (formerly Volare Airlines) [IATA Code VE].

"Alitalia" is an Italian portmanteau of the words ali (wings), and Italia (Italy).^[5]

History

Creation of Alitalia-CAI

In 2008, a group of investors made the "Compagnia Aerea Italiana" (CAI) consortium aimed to buy the bankrupt Alitalia Linee Aeree Italiane ("old" Alitalia) and to merge these with Air One, another Italian carrier. ^[6]

On 30 October 2008 CAI offered 1,000 million to acquire parts of the bankrupt airline, amidst pilots' and flight crew members' opposition to labour agreements. ^[7]

On 19 November 2008, CAI's offer was accepted by the bankruptcy administrator of Alitalia with the permission of the Italian government, at the time major shareholder of the bankrupting airline.^[8] Alitalia's profitable assets were transferred to CAI on 12 December 2008 after CAI paid 1.052 billion, consisting of 427 million in cash and the assumption of responsibility for 625 million in Alitalia debt.^[9]

On 13 January 2009 the "new" Alitalia re-launched operations. The owners of Compagnia Aerea Italiana sold 25% of the company's shares to Air France-KLM for 322 million. Air France-KLM also obtained an option, subject to certain conditions, to purchase additional shares after 2013. The French as well as the Italian boards agreed to the sale.^[10]

History under new ownership

In January 2010, Alitalia celebrated its first birthday since the relaunch. It carried 22 million passengers in its first year of operations.^[11] In 2010, 23.4 million passengers were carried, a 7.4% increase.^[12]

On 1 February 2010, it was announced that Alitalia crew would go on a four hour strike over wages. This was the first strike action for Alitalia since the relaunch.^[13]

On 11 February 2010, Alitalia announced that, starting from the summer season, it would be using Air One as a "low-fare" airline, with operations based in Milan Malpensa Airport, focused on short-haul leisure routes. With initially 5 airplanes (Airbus A320), and 10 by 2012, Alitalia hopes to carry 3 million passengers in 2012 from Milan Malpensa (compared to 1.5 million in 2009), of which 2.4 million will be carried by the new Air One "Smart Carrier".^[14]

On 12 February 2011, information was released about a possible merger between Alitalia and Meridiana Fly, another Italian carrier. The merge would take place through a share swap and give the Aga Khan who controls Meridiana between 5 and 7 percent of Alitalia, which corresponds to a valuation of Meridiana of about 100 million euros.^[15]

On 25 January 2012, Alitalia has tentatively agreed to merge with fellow Italian operators Blue Panorama and Wind Jet. Alitalia has signed memoranda of understanding with both carriers and said to have started processes "aimed at achieving integration" with them. Alitalia also said the planned integration with Blue Panorama and Wind Jet is "consistent with the process of continuing consolidation" in the air transport sector, both domestically and internationally. Finally Alitalia stated that the carriers have "synergistic and complementary profiles" regarding their network and fleet, which could be exploited in a tie-up.^[16]

Slogans

A variety of different slogans are currently being used by Alitalia:

• "Alitalia vola con te" (Alitalia flies with you)^[17]
• "Fatti per volare alto" (Made to fly high)^[18]
• "Alitalia, al lavoro per te" (Alitalia, working for you)^[19]
• "Muoviamo chi muove l'Italia" (We move the people that keep Italy going)^[20]
• "The pleasure of flying Made in Italy"^[21]

The old Alitalia, since 2005, year in which the new modernised logo and livery were introduced, also used a mix of slogans:^[22]

• "Volare, nella tua vita" (Flying, in your life)
• "Volare in compagnia dell'Italia" (Fly Italian)

Airline operations

Administration

Alitalia's head office is located in Piazza Almerico da Schio, Pal. RPU 00054 Fiumicino (RM).^[23] The chairman of the airline is Roberto Colaninno; the chief executive officer is Rocco Sabelli.^[24]

Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI), a consortium that bought all the profitable activities of the old Alitalia and Air One in 2008,^[25] holds a 75% stake in Alitalia, while Air France holds the other 25%.^[26]

Finance and load factors

• As of 29 July 2009 Alitalia is the first airline for domestic flights in Italy and was the third airline for international flights to/from Italy. As of 4 October 2010 Alitalia has overtaken Easyjet in this respect and is therefore in second place.^[36][37]
• Rocco Sabelli, the airline CEO, admitted in 2009 that he expected an "uphill struggle" for 2010 (and indeed losses amounted to 107 million Euros), whereas profit or at least a break-even should be possible for 2011, as has been confirmed on 9 May 2011, despite the difficulties arising from high fuel costs and recent regional troubles in Japan and North Africa.^[28][33]
• Alitalia has been nominated as Europe's most punctual airline.^[29]
• As of 28 October 2010, Alitalia has 53% of the market share on domestic routes (based on seat capacity).^[31]
• In terms of 2010 passenger results, the best results were achieved on international and intercontinental routes, with passengers up by 12 and 14% on these routes respectively. The total number of passengers for the period was 23.4 million.^[32]

Destinations

Alitalia, including flights operated by its subsidiary Air One Smart Carrier, serves 86 destinations; 27 domestic and 59 international, in 40 countries (at October 2011). Alitalia's Hub is at Rome Fiumicino Airport, and six other Italian airports are focus cities. Air One's operating bases are at Milan Malpensa Airport, Pisa Airport and Venice Marco Polo Airport.^[38]

Codeshare agreements

Alitalia has codeshare agreements with the following non-Skyteam airlines:^[39]

In addition to these airlines, Alitalia participates in the SkyTeam alliance,^[40] and therefore also has agreements with other participating SkyTeam airlines.

Fleet

As of December 2011, the combined Alitalia fleet including Alitalia (AZ), CAI-First (XM), CAI-Second (VE), Air One Smart Carrier (AP) and Alitalia CityLiner (CT) consists of the following aircraft:^{[41][42][43][44]}

Alitalia was in 2010 considering the Russian regional Sukhoi Superjet 100 aircraft, with a possible order for 20, which would have been a huge boost for Russia's Civil Aviation manufacturers. Alitalia was also however considering ordering Bombardier and/or Embraer 190 aircraft to update its regional fleet. A contest has taken place at Rome Fiumicino Airport to decide what aircraft will be ordered.^[45] Alitalia officials have presented a preference for the Embraer, with an imminent order for 20, since they already have 6 aircraft of that type; also, the Superjets wouldn't be available for immediate delivery, as they still need to be certified.^[46]

• In mid 2009, Alitalia painted one of their Boeing 767-300ER (EI-DBP) in a special SkyTeam livery, with plans to paint a total of nine in this livery.^[47]
• All Airbus A320 family aircraft have been refitted with new "slim" leather Recaro seats, allowing to add two rows of seats in each case, without affecting legroom. There seems to be PTV installed, but not fully functional yet.^[30]
• On 19 July 2010, the Aircraft with registration EI-DSA, which had previously been in the Air One livery, was painted into a special "Alitalia.com" livery.(EI-DSA) ^[20]
• On 23 February 2011, Alitalia and ENAC announced the introduction of the Safety Card written in braille and characters in 3-D relief, which will be introduced on scheduled flights for the first time in the world.^[48]

Historical fleet

Since startup in January 2009, the new Alitalia has also operated the following aircraft types, before replacing them with the Airbus A320:^[49][50]

• Boeing 737-300
• Boeing 737-400 (aircraft are now in subleasing to other airlines)

Service

Alitalia has four classes of service:^[51]

• Classica, the name given to Alitalia's economy class. On short and medium haul flights passengers receive a free drinks and a snack or light meal service, depending on the length of the flight. Personal TV screens for entertainment are present in each seat on some Airbus A320 and A319 planes. On long haul flights passengers receive a free meal service as well as, on most planes, Personal TV screens for entertainment.
• Classica plus is Alitalia's Premium Economy available on some long haul flights. The service is the same as Economy however passengers get some extra benefits such as extra legroom, dedicated check-in desk and higher baggage allowance.
• Ottima, Alitalia's short and medium haul business class, with an improved catering service and baggage allowance compared to Economy, as well as a dedicated check-in desk and access to the V.I.P. lounges in the airport.
• Magnifica is Alitalia's long haul business class, with special benefits since the recent upgrade:
  • New catering (regionally focused, changing monthly and including a new selection of wines and "spumante" changes prepared in cooperation with the Italian Sommelier Association)
  • New blankets / duvets / cushions / linens by Frette
  • New amenity kits by Bulgari
  • New china by Richard Ginori
  • New Magnifica Class seats on Alitalia's Airbus A330-200 aircraft deliveries are flat-bed seats which can be seen here. They are also being retrofitted on the 10 B777 aircraft^[52].

SkyTeam

The new Alitalia inherited Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane's membership of the SkyTeam alliance. Alitalia-LAI originally joined in 2001.^[53]

Alitalia has since opened up code-share agreements with SkyTeam members, allowing passengers to fly to numerous destinations using a single Alitalia ticket.^[40]

In July 2010, Alitalia joined leading SkyTeam members Air France, KLM and Delta's Transatlantic Joint Venture, meaning that the profits on flights across the Atlantic are shared between the four airlines.^[54]

MilleMiglia

The airline's frequent-flyer programme is named "MilleMiglia" (thousand miles), and is part of the SkyTeam alliance programme, allowing passengers to collect miles and redeem them with free tickets across the whole alliance.^[55]

It also grants access to Alitalia's Privilege clubs, Ulisse, Freccia Alata, and finally Freccia Alata Plus, depending on how many miles you have collected in a year, with various advantages depending on the club.^[56] These clubs give access to SkyTeam Elite (Ulisse) and SkyTeam Elite+ (Freccia Alata, Freccia Alata plus).^[55]

Incidents and accidents

Listed here are incidents since Alitalia's relaunch of operations on 13 January 2009:

• On 17 February 2010, an Alitalia flight from Rome to Cairo, Egypt with 157 passengers, had to make an emergency landing in Cairo after a reported bomb threat. A notable passenger on the flight was Egyptian Tourism Minister Zuheir Garana.^[57]
• On 24 April 2011 an attempt was made to hijack Alitalia Flight 329, en-route from Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France to Fiumicino Airport, Rome and divert it to Tripoli International Airport, Libya. The hijacker, reported to be an advisor to the Kazakhstan delegation to UNESCO, was subdued by cabin crew and other passengers. He was arrested and taken into custody after the aircraft made a safe landing at Rome.^[58]

See also

• Transport in Italy
• List of airports in Italy
• List of companies of Italy

References

External links

• Official website (Mobile)
• Alitalia Corporate
• Aviazione Civile: Thread "News flotta Alitalia-CAI" - Italian language - First post continuously updated with fleet composition