Alitalia

This article is about the new Alitalias – CAI and SAI. For the old Alitalia, see Alitalia – Linee Aeree Italiane.

Not to be confused with Aeritalia.

Alitalia – Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A.

IATA ICAO Callsign AZ AZA ALITALIA
Founded	List 12 March 1999 (as Trattamenti Termici Solbiate s.r.l.) 29 July 2004 (as Resco Uno s.r.l.) 26 August 2008 (as C.A.I. Compagnia Aerea Italiana s.r.l.) 12 January 2009 (as Alitalia - Compagnia Aerea Italiana S.p.A.) 1 January 2015 (as Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A.)
Commenced operations	1 January 2015
AOC #	I-130
Hubs	Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport (Rome)
Secondary hubs	Linate Airport (Milan)
Focus cities	Catania-Fontanarossa Airport Falcone–Borsellino Airport (Palermo) Malpensa Airport (Milan) Tirana International Airport Nënë Tereza Turin Airport
Frequent-flyer program	Etihad Guest MilleMiglia
Airport lounge	Alitalia Lounge
Alliance	SkyTeam
Subsidiaries	Alitalia CityLiner
Fleet size	101
Destinations	102
Headquarters	Fiumicino, Rome, Italy
Key people	Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Chairman and CEO
Revenue	€3,594 million (2012)
Operating income	-€119 million (2012)
Net income	-€280 million (2012)
Employees	14,036 (3 March 2014)
Website	alitalia.com

Alitalia – Società Aerea Italiana (Alitalia – Italian Air Company), operating as Alitalia (Italian: [aliˈtaːlja]), is the flag carrier and national airline of Italy. The company has its head office in Fiumicino, Rome, Italy. Its main hub is Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport, in Rome and a secondary is Milan Linate Airport, in Milan. Other focus airports are Catania-Fontanarossa Airport, Milan-Malpensa Airport, Palermo Airport, Turin Airport and Venice Marco Polo Airport. Tirana Airport is the only focus city outside Italy. On 30 September 2014, Alitalia's budget subsidiary Air One ceased flight operations. In 2014, it was the eleventh-largest airline in Europe.

The name "Alitalia" is an Italian portmanteau of the words ali (wings), and Italia (Italy). In late 2013, facing bankruptcy, the loss of a major fuel supplier, and a possible grounding by Italy's civil aviation authority, the airline announced a €500 million rescue package which includes a €75 million investment by the Italian state-owned postal operator.

On 1 August 2014, the Abu Dhabi-based UAE national airline Etihad Airways confirmed it had agreed to terms with Alitalia on taking a 49% stake in the Italian airline. This deal was signed on 8 August 2014 and became effective on 1 January 2015.

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 bankrupt Italian carrier.

On 30 October 2008, CAI offered €1 billion to acquire parts of the bankrupt airline, amidst pilots' and flight crew members' opposition to labour agreements. 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 bankrupt airline. Alitalia's profitable assets were transferred to CAI on 12 December 2008 after CAI paid €1052 million, consisting of €427 million in cash and the assumption of responsibility for €625 million in Alitalia debt.

A USA diplomatic cable disclosed in 2011 summarised the operation as follows: "Under the guise of a rather quaint (and distinctly un-EU) desire to maintain the Italian-ness of the company, a group of wealthy Berlusconi cronies was enticed into taking over the healthy portions of Alitalia, leaving its debts to the Italian taxpayers. The rules of bankruptcy were changed in the middle of the game to meet the government's needs. Berlusconi pulled this one off, but his involvement probably cost the Italian taxpayers a lot of money."

On 13 January 2009, the "new" Alitalia 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 "new" Alitalia has not claimed the old Alitalia's history as its own, as can be seen in official documents regarding the new "Alitalia Group". Instead, they stressed they are a totally different company, as it can be seen in different occasions. For example, they chose not to recognize benefits such as discounted tickets to former Alitalia-LAI workers. They also refused to honour passengers' claims against the old Alitalia on this basis.

The new Alitalia doesn't own many of its operating airplanes. Alitalia-LAI instead owned 100% of its airplanes. Almost every plane that CAI had acquired from the old Alitalia was sold or decommissioned. Instead, Alitalia-CAI airplanes are leased mostly from Aircraft Purchase Fleet, an Irish company owned by Carlo Toto, the ex owner of the bankrupt Air One which was merged in 2008 to Alitalia-CAI when the new company was founded.

History under new ownership

Alitalia logo 2008-2015

In January 2010, Alitalia celebrated its first anniversary since the relaunch. It carried 22 million passengers in its first year of operations. In 2011, 25 million passengers were carried. 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. On 11 February 2010, Alitalia announced that, starting from March 2010, it would use Air One as a low-fare airline ("Smart Carrier"), with operations based at Milan Malpensa Airport, focused on short-haul leisure routes. It was predicted that the subsidiary would handle 2.4 million passengers by 2012. In 2011, 1.4 million passengers were carried by the subsidiary. Although operations were initially to be concentrated at Milan Malpensa, Air One later operated from Milan-Malpensa, Venice-Marco Polo, Pisa and Catania as of January 2013.

On 12 February 2011, information was released about a possible merger between Alitalia and Meridiana Fly, another Italian carrier. The merger was not effected. On 23 February 2011, Alitalia and ENAC announced the introduction of a safety card written in braille and characters in 3-D relief, which is the first of its kind.

On 25 January 2012, Alitalia signed memoranda of understanding with two other Italian airlines, Blue Panorama and Wind Jet, and said to have started processes "aimed at achieving integration" with them. By the end of July 2012, the Italian antitrust authority allowed Alitalia to acquire Wind Jet, but in return Alitalia would have to cede slots on domestic routes. Faced with this, Alitalia cancelled the plans a few days later in August 2012.

On 3 May 2013, in a sting codenamed "Operation Clean Holds", police made 49 arrests at Rome's Fiumicino airport, with another 37 in Italian airports including Bari, Bologna, Milan Linate, Naples, Palermo and Verona. All were Alitalia employees caught on camera and most were charged with aggravated theft and damage. Hidden-camera footage has been released showing employees rifling through, stealing from, and intentionally damaging passengers' baggage belonging to various carriers.

In June 2014, the Abu Dhabi-based UAE national airline Etihad Airways announced it was taking a 49% stake in Alitalia. On 1 January 2015, Alitalia-CAI formally passed its operations to Alitalia-SAI, a new entity owned 49% by Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways and 51% owned by the former Italian stakeholders of Alitalia-CAI.

In May 2015, Alitalia also announced to terminate their partnership with Air France-KLM in 2017 stating that there are no longer enough advantages from the joint-venture to keep it up.

In February 2016, Alitalia announced to cancel in late March 2015 all flights from Pisa, included Moscow, Prague, Berlin, Catania and Tirana. Alitalia decided to maintain flights to Olbia and Rome.

Corporate affairs

Administration

Alitalia hangars in Fiumicino

Alitalia's head office is located at Via Alberto Nassetti in Fiumicino, Province of Rome. The corporate headquarters was designed by AMDL, a Milan-based architecture firm. The head office was previously in a building at Piazza Almerico da Schio, also in Fiumicino.

The CEO of the airline since March 2016 is Cramer Ball, Chairman is Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, the vice chairman is James Hogan, president and CEO of Etihad Airways.

Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI) holds a 51% stake in Alitalia, while Etihad Airways holds the remaining 49%.

Advertising

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

• "Alitalia vola con te" (Alitalia flies with you)
• "Fatti per volare alto" (Made to fly high)
• "Alitalia, al lavoro per te" (Alitalia, working for you)
• "Muoviamo chi muove l'Italia" (We move the people who keep Italy going)
• "Scegli come volare"(Choose how to fly)
• "Orgogliosi di mostrare il meglio del nostro paese appassionatamente"(Proud to show the best of our country with passion)
• "The pleasure of flying Made in Italy"

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

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

In 2014, the company adopted a new slogan

• "Alitalians do it better"
• "Where the journey meets the destination." (International advertisement)

Finance and load factors

Alitalia Financial and operational results

Year	Operating profit (€ millions)					Load Factor (%)					On-time (%)
	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Average	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Average
2009	-210	-63	15	-15	-273	51	65	74	70	65	72	72	ND	ND	72
2010	-125	-4	56	-34	-107	65	71	76	72	71	82	83	ND	ND	80
2011	-86	17	90	-27	-6	64	72	78	77	73	91	85	86	80	86
2012	-109	-60	50	0	-119	69	73	78	80	75	88	90	84	86	87
2013	-136	ND	36	ND	-50	71	ND	79	ND	75	88	ND	86	ND	87
2014	ND	×	×	×	ND	72	×	×	×	72	ND	×	×	×	ND

ND = No Data

• As of 29 July 2009, Alitalia is the first airline for domestic flights in Italy and, as of 4 October 2010, Alitalia is in second place for international flights to/from Italy.
• Alitalia was nominated as Europe's most punctual airline in 2010, and as one of the world's five most punctual airlines in 2011.
• As of 28 October 2010, Alitalia has 53% of the market share on domestic routes (based on seat capacity).

Major shareholding

Alitalia's shareholders are CAI Compagnia Aerea Italiana 51% and Etihad Airways 49%

Shareholder	Holding
CAI Compagnia Aerea Italiana	51%
Etihad Airways	49%
Total	100%

Compagnia Aerea Italiana was owned by UniCredit for 32.98%, Intesa Sanpaolo for 31.40% (as at 31 December 2015)

Destinations

Main article: Alitalia destinations

Alitalia serves 102 destinations (at April 2015). Alitalia's hub is at Rome Fiumicino Airport, and five other Italian and Albanian airports are focus cities.

Codeshare agreements

Alitalia and Alitalia CityLiner have codeshare agreements with the following airlines (as of October 2014):

Aeroflot Aeromexico airBaltic Air Berlin Air Corsica Air Europa Air France Air Serbia Air Seychelles Azerbaijan Airlines Bulgaria Air China Airlines China Eastern Airlines

China Southern Airlines Croatia Airlines Czech Airlines Delta Air Lines Etihad Airways Etihad Regional Garuda Indonesia Gol Transportes Aéreos Japan Airlines Jet Airways KLM Korean Air

Kuwait Airways Luxair Middle East Airlines Montenegro Airlines Niki Qantas Saudia SriLankan Airlines TAP Portugal TAROM Vietnam Airlines XiamenAir

SkyTeam

Alitalia has been in the SkyTeam alliance since 2009; Alitalia-LAI originally joined in 2001. Alitalia has since arranged code-share agreements with SkyTeam members, allowing passengers to fly to numerous destinations (with some or all segments operated by airlines other than Alitalia) using a single Alitalia ticket. In July 2010, Alitalia also joined Air France, KLM and Delta's transatlantic Joint Venture, meaning that the profits from flights across the Atlantic are shared between the four airlines.

Fleet

Alitalia Airbus A320-200

Alitalia Airbus A330-200

Alitalia Boeing 777-200ER

Current fleet

For subsidiaries fleet, see Alitalia CityLiner.

As of May 2016, the Alitalia mainline fleet consists of the following aircraft:

Alitalia Mainline Fleet

Aircraft	In Service	Orders	Passengers				Notes
			J	Y+	Y	Total
Airbus A319-100	22	—	32	—	90	122
	—	—	138	138
Airbus A320-200	42	3	34	—	114	148	2 in Air One livery
	—	—	165	165
	—	—	180	180
Airbus A321-100	12	—	28	—	158	186	2 in old "Landor" livery
	—	—	200	200
Airbus A330-200	12	1	20	17	219	256	1 in Skyteam livery
	2	—	22	—	240	262	To be reconfigured to 256 seats
Boeing 777-200ER	11	1	30	24	239	293	EI-FNI stored at Abu Dhabi 1 in Skyteam livery
Boeing 777-300ER	—	1	TBA
Total	101	6

Between 2009 and 2011, Alitalia renewed its fleet with 34 new aircraft, while 26 older planes were retired. The renewal process ended in early 2013. These new planes are not owned by Alitalia itself, but are leased mostly from Aircraft Purchase Fleet, an Irish leasing company created by former Air One owner Carlo Toto primarily to purchase the new Alitalia fleet. Following the Air One merger, the entire fleet that was not already leased from other lessors, plus the former Air One fleet that was owned by Air One outright, came under the ownership of APF, a subsidiary of Toto's Italian conglomerate Toto Holding. The entire fleet, except the two new A330s, is now on the Irish registry instead of the Italian registry. With the new strategic plan focused on long haul, in January 2015 it was announced that seven wide-bodies would join the fleet beginning in May 2015 with an A330-200 in a new livery. Some planes will possibly come from Etihad or Etihad Partners. It is planned that these new planes will be mostly owned by Alitalia-SAI and will not be leased from the Irish-based Aircraft Purchase Fleet Limited, unlike the Alitalia-CAI airplanes. On May 18th 2016 Etihad Aviation Group president and CEO James Hogan believes there is potential for equity partner Alitalia to grow to 40 long-haul aircraft from its current fleet of 24.

Historic fleet

Alitalia McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 in 1980

Alitalia Boeing 747-200 in 1990

Over the years, Alitalia has operated the following aircraft types:

Alitalia Historic Fleet Aircraft Introduced Retired Airbus A300-B4 1980 1998 Airbus A319-100 2002 — Airbus A320-200 1999 — Airbus A321-100 1994 — Airbus A330-200 2009 — Boeing 737-200 1992 1995 Boeing 747-100 1970 1981 Boeing 747-200 1971 2004 Boeing 767-300ER 1995 2012 Boeing 777-200ER 2002 — McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 1973 1986 McDonnell Douglas MD-11 1991 2009 McDonnell Douglas MD-82 1983 2012 Savoia-Marchetti SM.95 1947 1954

Retired aircraft

• The Boeing 767-300ER was introduced to the Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane fleet in 1994, and retired after 17 years of service in 2012. The last 767 flight was AZ845 from Accra via Lagos to Rome on 25 October 2012.
• The McDonnell Douglas MD-82 was introduced to the Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane fleet in 1983, and then retired in 2012 after 29 years of service. The last flight with this aircraft type operated on 27 October 2012 using the plane with registration I-DATI on flight AZ1740 (Catania-Milan-Linate). The same aircraft on 17 December 2012 operated a memorial flight from Rome-Fiumicino Airport to Trieste Airport with journalists and ex-Alitalia's CEO Andrea Ragnetti on board. During landing, I-DATI was supported by Frecce Tricolori; they did a show for the occasion.

Special liveries

Alitalia Airbus A320-200 (special livery)

Alitalia Airbus A320-200 in Jeep Renegade special livery

• In mid-2009, a Boeing 767-300ER (EI-DBP) was painted in the SkyTeam livery.
• On 19 July 2010, a Airbus A320-200 (EI-DSA), which had previously been in the Air One livery, was painted in a special "Alitalia.com" livery. This plane is now wearing Alitalia-SAI livery.
• In March 2012, a Embraer E-190-100LR (EI-RND) was delivered in the SkyTeam livery.
• In March 2012, a Boeing 777-200ER (EI-DDH) was painted in the SkyTeam livery.
• In April 2012, a Airbus A321-100 (EI-IXI) was painted in the historic livery of Freccia Alata-Linee Aeree Italiane, Alitalia's predecessor. This plane is now stored.
• In November 2013, an Airbus A330-200 (EI-DIR), which had previously been in the Air One livery, was painted in the SkyTeam livery.
• In March 2014 an Airbus A330-200 (EI-EJG) and an Airbus A320-200 (EI-DSM) were painted in a special livery dedicated to Calabria. EI-EJG is now wearing Alitalia-SAI livery and EI-DSM is sold to Congo Airways.
• In April 2014 an Airbus A319-100 (EI-IMI) was painted in a special livery dedicated to Friuli-Venezia Giulia. From August 2015 this plane is wearing Alitalia-SAI livery.
• In October 2014 an Airbus A330-200 (EI-EJM) was painted in a special livery, in cooperation with its partner Etihad Airways, dedicated to Expo 2015. This plane is now wearing Alitalia-SAI livery.

Future fleet

The company is planning to introduce new aircraft. The new Airbus A320neo family has been proposed for short to medium haul. While the Airbus 350 the Boeing 777-300ER and the Boeing 777X are being considered to expand the long-haul fleet.

Services

Cabin

Alitalia Check-in area in Florence

Alitalia has four classes of service:

• Classica is Alitalia's economy class. On short and medium haul flights, passengers receive a free drink 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 leg room, dedicated check-in desks and a higher baggage allowance.
• Ottima is Alitalia's short and medium haul business class, with an improved catering service and baggage allowance compared to Classica, 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, and amenity kits as well as new china
  • New flat-bed Magnifica Class seats on Alitalia's Airbus A330-200 and 777 aircraft.

All Airbus A320 family aircraft were refitted with new "slim" leather Recaro seats in 2010. Seatback TV screens for entertainment were installed on some aircraft. Between December 2015 and April 2016, all Airbus A320 family aircraft will again receive new state of the art black leather seats with beige headrest covers for Business Class and red ones for Economy Class as part of the airline's renewed corporate branding.

Frequent-flyer program

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

It also grants access to Alitalia's Privilege clubs, Ulisse, Freccia Alata, and Freccia Alata Plus, depending on the number of miles collected in a year, with various advantages depending on the club. These clubs give access to SkyTeam Elite (Ulisse) and SkyTeam Elite+ (Freccia Alata, Freccia Alata plus).

Incidents and accidents

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

• 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.
• On 29 September 2013 at 20:10, an Alitalia Airbus A320 flying from Madrid Barajas Airport to Rome Fiumicino airport failed to deploy the landing gear during a storm on landing and the aircraft toppled, skidded off the runway and crashed. 10 passengers suffered minor injuries and all 151 passengers and crew were evacuated and taken to hospital. The crash is still being investigated.

See also

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

External links

Media related to at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website (Mobile)
• Alitalia Corporate