Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane
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| Founded | 1946 (as Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali) | ||||||
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| Hubs | Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport Malpensa International Airport | ||||||
| Focus cities | Linate Airport | ||||||
| Frequent-flyer program | MilleMiglia | ||||||
| Alliance | SkyTeam | ||||||
| Fleet size | 179 | ||||||
| Destinations | 101 | ||||||
| Parent company | Alitalia Group | ||||||
| Headquarters | Rome, Italy | ||||||
| Key people | Berardino Libonati (Chairman from Feb 28, 2007) | ||||||
| Website | http://www.alitalia.com | ||||||
Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane (BIT: {{{2}}}) is the national airline of Italy. Headquartered in Rome, it operates services to 28 domestic and 74 international destinations. The airline's hubs are Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport, Rome, and Malpensa International Airport, Milan.[1]
History
Alitalia was established on 16 September 1946 as Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali, more commonly known as Alitalia, an Italian portmanteau of the words ali (wings) and Italia (Italy). It started operations on 5 May 1947, in which year it carried over 10,000 passengers. The inaugural flight was with a Fiat G-12 Alcione, piloted by Virginio Reinero between Turin and Rome. The first international flight left a year later, travelling between Milan and cities in South America. On 31 October 1957 Alitalia merged with Linee Aeree Italiane and took on the name of Alitalia Linee Aeree Italiane.
By the 1990s, Alitalia was carrying 25 million passengers annually. In 1997 it set up a regional subsidiary Alitalia Express and in 2001 it became a member of the SkyTeam Alliance. In November 2003 Alitalia announced that it would cut 2,700 jobs over the next three years to prepare the airline for a merger with Air France and KLM. In April 2004 Alitalia acquired bankrupt regional airline Gandalf Airlines to gain additional slots at several European airports, mainly in Milan (Linate) and Paris (Charles De Gaulle).
In September 2004 the airline found itself in financial difficulties, with management saying it did not have enough cash to pay worker salaries past the end of that month. It announced plans to lay off 5000 employees and to split the company into two divisions, an airline and a ground services division. It also said it was reconsidering its alliance with Air France. Talks went on with unions for pay cuts and layoffs, in an attempt to keep the company out of bankruptcy and possibly liquidation. On September 24, the company announced that it had reached an agreement with unions allowing access to a bridging loan from the Italian government.
Alitalia is owned by the Italian Ministry of the Treasury (49%), other shareholders, including employees (49%) and Air France-KLM (2%). However, because of financial troubles, the Italian government announced its willingness to lead Alitalia towards privatization by lowering its part of ownership in it. A public notification was announced on January 2007. The buyer must acquire at least 30.1% of Alitalia, must guarantee the airline's 18,000 jobs, domestic routes, and the Italian identity of the Alitalia brand, according to the tender document published on the Treasury Web site. Italy has invited bids for at least 30.1% of Alitalia's shares, to be submitted by Jan. 29, 2007. Under Italian law, a buyer of more than 30% of a company must make a public offer to buy out the other shareholders. In July 2007 the last of the bidders for Alitalia backed off. The airline is now facing bankruptcy as the government may no longer offer support to the failing ailine.
Alitalia employed 20,653 staff, at November 2005[citation needed] and employs 18,182 staff in March 2007.[1]
The airline's frequent flyer program is named "MilleMiglia", and is part of the SkyTeam alliance program, allowing passengers to collect miles and redeem them with free tickets across the whole alliance.
Volare Group
Volare Group (Volare Airlines, Volareweb, Air Europe) had gone bankrupt. In December 2005 the Italian Government put it up for sale. Alitalia bid to buy the group (other bidders were Air One and Meridiana/Eurofly). Air One went to court claiming that Alitalia could not buy Volare has it had received state aid in the past. The TAR (Regional Aministrative Tribunal) of Lazio tried to block Alitalia's acquisition of Volare Group but abandoned the attempt, claiming that Alitalia had repaid its 400 million Euro loan and so there would be nothing stopping it from buying Volare Group. Air One also went to court, unsuccessfully. Alitalia created Volare SpA to buy the Volare Group. The airlines are getting closer to each other and Volare Group has started providing soft maintenance services for some Alitalia aircraft in Milan Malpensa airport. However, the Italian Consiglio di Stato (State Council) on 23 May 2006 has once again blocked the acquisition of the airline. It is not clear what is going to happen as Volare is in serious financial difficulties.
On November 2, 2006 TAR court decided that the administrative procedure used by the Italian government to sell Volare to Alitalia was invalid. But the selling contract is still valid because the administrative court was declared incompetent about this topic. If Air One wants to obtain Volare it will have to go to the local civil court and ask it to declare that the selling contract is invalid.
Alitalia Servizi
Carlo Cimoli, after becoming President and CEO of the Alitalia Group, divided the group into two holdings to cut costs. Alitalia (referred to as Alitalia Fly) controls Alitalia Express, Volare SpA, Volare Airlines and Air Europe. Furthermore it controls 51% of Alitalia Servizi SpA which owns the following companies:
- Alitalia Airport (100%): ground handling services in Rome Fiumicino, Palermo, Cagliari. It provides passenger handling services in: Catania, Naples.
- Alitalia Maintenance Systems (60%): maintenance services, it is 40% controlled by Lufthansa Technik.
- Atitech (100%): maintenance services in Naples.
Alitalia Servizi also provides IT services for the Alitalia Group (which will be partly outsourced) and ground handling in London Heathrow. It provides passenger handling in Brussels, Athens and Frankfurt. Alitalia Servizi is 49% owned by Fintecna (State agency). By 2008 it could be sold as a whole or piece by piece as the agreements with the trade unions prevent Alitalia from selling Alitalia Servizi before 2008. alita...
Malpensa hub
In 1995 Alitalia signed a partnership with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines which aimed at a merger. The aim of the partnership was developing Malpensa hub along with Amsterdam (which lacked enough landing slots to further develop) and Rome Fiumicino. The problem was that in Milan there are two airports: Milan Linate (close to city centre but small) and Milan Malpensa (far from city but big and expandable). The Italian Government planned to move all flights to Milan Malpensa apart from Milan-Rome Fiumicino.
The EU airlines went to the European courts as they claimed that the development of Milan Malpensa and the closing of Milan Linate would provide an anti-competitive situation in favour of Alitalia. They claimed that Alitalia could go on feeding its Fiumicino hub from Linate but they could not. Furthermore they claimed that Malpensa was too far (40 km) and lacked the infrastructure to/from the city (the rail link would open 1 year after the opening of the hub). After many court disputes the EU decided to leave 33% of the flights in Linate until the rail link would be opened.
KLM broke the alliance with Alitalia and Cempella (head of Alitalia) was replaced by Mengozzi who had the role of getting Alitalia back on track. In 2000 he signed a 2% share exchange with Air France and in 2001 joined the Sky Team alliance.
In 2001 Alitalia renewed the ground handling contract with SEA.
Destinations
Lawsuits and complaints
The company's attitude towards its customers has sparked a series of testimonials and complaints on the web.
Alitalia filed a lawsuit against the website in the US courts, claiming the violation of various trademark laws – the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act, the Lanham Act, and the state common law of trademark. The corporation's bid to fine and silence the creators of the website was withdrawn when Public Citizen, a US national non-profit consumer advocacy organization stepped in to support the website's owners according to the First Amendment. See the external links section for more details.
In December 2005, Italy's antitrust agency fined Alitalia €30,000 for misleading consumers by advertising a round-trip flight tariff while showing only the price of a one-way ticket. The antitrust agency in a statement said the advertisement appeared on Alitalia's web site during May and June. "The advertisement, that appeared on the main page, indicated that the price was particularly good value," the antitrust agency said in a statement. It went on to call the advertisement "misleading."
Fleet
Passenger
The Alitalia fleet consists of the following aircraft as of May 2007:[1]
| Aircraft | Total | Passengers (Ottima*/Unica) |
Routes | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airbus A319-100 | 12 | 126 | Domestic/International short-medium haul | |
| Airbus A320-200 | 11 | 153 | Domestic/International short-medium haul | |
| Airbus A321-100 | 23 | 187 | Domestic/International short-medium haul | |
| ATR 72 | 10 | 66 | Domestic short haul | Alitalia Express |
| Boeing 767-300ER | 13 | 214 (25/189) | International medium-long haul Accra, Boston, Caracas, Chicago, Dubai, Lagos, Mumbai, New York JFK, Shanghai, Toronto |
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| Boeing 777-200ER | 10 | 291 (42/249) | International long haul Buenos Aires, Miami, New York JFK, Newark, Osaka, São Paulo, Tokyo (Narita) |
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| Embraer ERJ-145 | 14 | 48 | Domestic/International short-medium haul | Alitalia Express |
| Embraer ERJ-170 | 6 | 72 | Domestic/International short-medium haul | Alitalia Express |
| McDonnell Douglas MD-82 | 74 | 141 164 |
Domestic/International short-medium haul |
*Ottima Class is offered on Domestic and Short Haul Flights. Magnifica Class is offered on International Medium-Long Haul Flights.
The average fleet age of Alitalia is 12.3 years as of February 2007.[2]
Cargo
The Alitalia Cargo fleet consists of the following aircraft as of March 2007:[1]
| Aircraft | Total | Routes | Notes |
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| McDonnell Douglas MD-11F | 5 | Cargo operations |
Incidents and accidents
Six Alitalia flights have been hijacked, and four aircraft incidents involved Alitalia planes:
- On December 18, 1954 a Linee Aeree Italiane Douglas DC-6 crashed on its fourth approach attempt to land at Idlewild (now John F. Kennedy International Airport), after circling for 2.5 hours. 26 of the 32 passengers on board were killed.
- On 5 May 1972 an Alitalia DC8-43 flew into the side of a hill near Palermo, Italy, during an approach in darkness and poor weather; the seven crew members and 108 passengers were killed.
- On 23 December 1978, an Alitalia DC9-32 crashed into the sea about two miles short of the runway of Palermo Punta Raisi Airport during its approach; all five crew members and 103 of 124 passengers were killed.
- On November 14, 1990 in Zurich an Alitalia aircraft crashed killing all six crew members and 40 passengers on board a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32.
Livery
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Alitalia's livery is a modified Eurowhite scheme, composed of primarily white with green and red accents. Alitalia's livery has been updated; the first plane to be re-painted (an MD-82) re-entered service in October 2006. The major change is the location of the green cheatline on the fuselage which was at window height but, in the new style, is placed below the windows. The black tip of the nose will change to white.
References
External links
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