State-owned Alitalia has finally relaunched under a new name that doesn’t have Alitalia in it. The new airline is called ITA (Italia Trasporti Aereo). But don’t worry nostalgic ones, Alitalia won’t be disappearing.
Alitalia Is Now ITA
Ironically, the pandemic has helped many of the weakest airlines, including beleaguered Alitalia. While a broad range of airlines have received government bailouts over the preceding months, poorly-run airlines like Alitalia have received an infusion of state support. In fact, Alitalia is now fully state-owned by the Italian Ministry for the Economy. And with that new ownership comes a new name, Italia Trasporti Aereo (Italy Air Transport).
But the Alitalia branding will remain at airports and on airplanes. Familiarity may breed contempt, but Alitalia is a household name around the world and the new company will borrow upon that tradition.
Many questions remain unanswered. One is where the company is located. The company declares it is located within the “Municipality of Rome” but no address has been provided (existing headquarters at Rome Fiumicino Airport are a safe guess, though). More importantly, the carrier’s strategy for long-term flourishing has only been generally revealed.
Alitalia Will Target North America, Japan
With fierce competition within Europe from both full-service network carriers and budget airlines, Alitalia will target longhaul travel. Specifically, Alitalia will closely coordinate with Italian rail to funnel in longhaul travel via its Rome and Milan hubs, with specific emphasis to North America and Japan. Per CEO Fabia Maria Lazzerini:
“The long-range means privileging the North American market, which is an underserved and extremely profitable market where further expansion is needed. South America is to be preserved, we have to think about Asia and China while Japan is doing very well.”
Lazzerini was Alitalia’s long-term Chief Commercial Officer.
There are no plans for Alitalia to leave SkyTeam. It will be capitalized with €3 billion and preserve 6,500 jobs and 90 aircraft. A fleet renewal plan is still under consideration.
CONCLUSION
Launching a new carrier during a global pandemic is hardly ideal, but have times ever been ideal for Alitalia? With the full backing of the state, Alitalia will emerge from the pandemic much stronger than when it entered. The question now, however, is whether this version of Alitalia will turn out as hopelessly as the previous two versions. EU authorities must also still approve the new company, specifically weighing whether such state funding is valid under EU laws restricting state aid.
Alitalia got the support that Air Italy never did. Now Alitalia has a clean slate. Will it finally rise to the occasion or remain a basket case?
image: Alitalia ITA
Smoke+Mirrors+Lipstick+Pig=New Alitalia.
Italian state owned.., Yep going to stay a basket case. It will also be entertaining to see how this plays in the EU with the subsidies they will be getting. My guess is the EU complains and it basically ends there.
Always enjoyed my flights on Alitalia. Great business class meals and wine. Connected fine with the crews – dress well and speak a bit of italian. Kind of like the ex Pan Am crews on UA that come across as surly to some, adored by others.
I loved the crew on my FCO-LAX flight:
https://liveandletsfly.com/alitalia-777-business-class-review/
Crews have always been great, IME.
I am optimistic. Alitalia wasn’t going to be able to survive as it was, while this may not be a radical market-driven change, it’s still better than letting it die completely. Maybe it’s just different enough to make an impact.
I like Alitalia, too. I wish them success!
I like Alitalia too, but ITA is not honoring vouchers that customers have with Alitalia. It is not the same company at all.
This sounds great. And they are absolutely right about a couple things: historically under-served, long-haul markets where there’s plenty of untapped demand. North America (and Japan and China). The key: nonstop flights.
Fact is, it’s nearly impossible for most Americans to fly nonstop to Italy. There are only a small handful of cities with nonstop service, and almost nothing at all from the west coast. Once the travel world starts to recover, if they put on some long range aircraft with direct service from YVR, SEA, PDX, SFO, SAN, and LAX, then ITA or Alitalia or whatever they want to call it can actually compete and enjoy success. Gimme a 787 or A350 with a good business class seat, and I’d fly them in a heartbeat. I know plenty of other people would do the same. This market (west coast of North America nonstop to Italy) has been very badly under-served. Fix that, and opportunity knocks.
While a national icon and a large employer, Alitalia was cobled by complicated and unsustainable union contracts coupled with cronyism of the most blatant kind. Don’t get me wrong, I wish the new venture success and have always enjoyed my Alitalia flights both transatlantic and inter-European but without wholesale restructuring of the labor contracts and cost structure and severe rationalization of the routes – to the detriment of all the politicos who pad the roles with relatives and friends, then the new ITA will have as much success as the old Alitalia.
I’ve flown twice with Alitalia. Once in economy, and the service and communication were shocking even in comparison to American airliners. The time I flew them in business was a completely different experience. Wonderful food and helpful service. The two airlines I know that offers great service in all cabins with correct levels of hard and soft product to differentiate between the cabins are JAL and Air France (excluding the A380 and the planes used on Caribbean and la reunion routes which are an embarrassment in the hard product category). Why do so many airlines get such a basic thing completely wrong?