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The story
Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane
Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane S.p.A. was established on 16 September 1946 as Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali (Italian International Airlines). It was formed as a result of an Anglo-Italian agreement and was funded by the Italian government and British European Airways (BEA) in a 60/40 share arrangement with a capital of 900 million lire (£1,000,000). Its popular name, Alitalia, is 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 from Turin to Catania and Rome.
The first intercontinental flight left a year later, flying between Milan and cities in South America. The Savoia-Marchetti SM.95 four engined airliner was used on European routes up to 1949. On 31 October 1957, Alitalia merged with Linee Aeree Italiane and took on the name of Alitalia – Linee Aeree Italiane. By the time of its liquidation, Alitalia was owned by the Italian Ministry of the Treasury (49%), other shareholders, including employees (49%) and Air France-KLM (2%, later: 25%). The airline's first charter flight was operated on November 1, 1958, from Turin to Nice.
By 1960, Alitalia was operating jet airliners on some European routes (the Sud Caravelle) and the Douglas DC-8 on several longer distance routes. The Vickers Viscount propeller-turbine four-engined airliner was flown by Alitalia on its European network throughout the 1960s.
Beginning with Pope Paul VI in 1964 until the airline's closure in 2021, the Pope flew most often on a chartered Alitalia jet when making pastoral and state visits to a country. The Pope's flight was often nicknamed "Shepherd One" by the press, while the actual callsign was "Volo Papale" (papal flight, in Italian) followed by a serial number.
In 1978, Alitalia had its head office in the Palazzo Alitalia in Rome.
1990s
By the 1990s, Alitalia was carrying 25 million passengers annually. In 1997, it set up a regional subsidiary Alitalia Express and in 2001 became a member of SkyTeam. 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 Gandalf Airlines, a bankrupt regional airline, to gain additional slots at several European airports, mainly in Milan (Linate) and Paris (Charles De Gaulle).
In 1995, Alitalia signed a partnership with KLM which aimed at a merger. The aim of the partnership was to develop Malpensa as a hub, along with Amsterdam (which lacked enough landing slots to expand further) and Rome Fiumicino.
2000s
In 2001, Alitalia renewed the ground handling contract with SEA. In the same year, Alitalia joined the SkyTeam alliance.
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In September 2007, Alitalia announced that it would nearly halve its hub at Malpensa and instead focus on Rome-Fiumicino and move all intercontinental flights there. Until this announcement, Malpensa had been Alitalia's primary hub for intercontinental flights. The transition away from Malpensa and towards Rome-Fiumicino was completed by the end of March 2008. Minor intercontinental destinations, which previously received flights only from Malpensa, henceforth received only flights from Rome-Fiumicino or else were discontinued.
Alitalia - Compagnia Aerea Italiana
In 2008, a group of investors formed the "Compagnia Aerea Italiana" (CAI) consortium 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 the majority shareholder of the bankrupt airline. Alitalia's profitable assets were transferred to CAI on 12 December 2008 after CAI paid €1.05 billion, 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 did not claim the old Alitalia's history as its own, as can be seen in official documents regarding the new "Alitalia Group". Instead, they stressed that they were a totally different company. They chose not to recognize benefits such as discounted tickets to former Alitalia-LAI workers and refused to honour passengers' claims against the old Alitalia.
The new Alitalia did not own many of its operating airplanes. (Alitalia-LAI had owned all of its airplanes.) Almost every plane that CAI had acquired from the old Alitalia was sold or decommissioned. Alitalia-CAI airplanes were leased mostly from Aircraft Purchase Fleet (it), an Irish company owned by Carlo Toto, the former owner of the bankrupt Air One, which was merged in 2008 into Alitalia-LAI when the new company was founded.
2010s
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 did not occur. 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. 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 included a €75 million investment by the Italian state-owned postal operator.
Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana
In June 2014, the Abu Dhabi-based UAE national airline Etihad Airways announced it was taking a 49% stake in Alitalia. On 30 September 2014, Alitalia's budget subsidiary Air One ceased flight operations.
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 announced it would terminate its partnership with Air France-KLM in 2017, stating that there were no longer enough advantages from the joint venture to keep it up.
In February 2016, Alitalia announced that in late March 2016 it would cancel most of its routes from Pisa, including Moscow, Prague, Berlin, Catania and Tirana. Alitalia decided to continue flying to Olbia and Rome.
On 25 April 2017, after Alitalia employees rejected job-cuts proposal aimed at reducing costs, the airline announced that it would start going through a bankruptcy process, beginning with the appointment of an administrator. The Italian government permitted Alitalia to file for bankruptcy on 2 May 2017. On 17 May 2017, after the government had ruled out nationalizing the airline, it was officially put up for sale to be auctioned off. In June, EasyJet expressed interest in purchasing the airline.
Ryanair also expressed interest but dropped its bid after the chaos caused by Ryanair's flight cancellations.
In 2018, Delta Air Lines, EasyJet and Italian railway company Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane lodged formal expressions of interest to acquire Alitalia; talks between the parties were opened in February 2019. In March 2019, EasyJet announced that it had withdrawn from the discussions. After the official visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Rome, China Eastern Airlines expressed interest in Alitalia's rescue plan and could spend up to €100 million in exchange for a 10% stake. Delta Air Lines stated to Reuters that it was ready to invest in Alitalia but that a 10% stake was the right way for them to do so.
2020s
On 17 March 2020, the Italian government took full control over the airline after talks with a number of Italian and international companies failed to agree with terms of them being shareholders of the airline.
In April 2020, the Italian government announced it would take over Alitalia in May since it would not be able to survive the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on its own. The fleet was planned to be reduced from 113 aircraft to "more than 90". The airline also questioned if it should remain in SkyTeam, which it has been a member of since 2001.
In May 2020, USAerospace Partners (headed by Michele Roosevelt Edwards) announced they were still interested in purchasing the airline. The company had offered to purchase it earlier in the year. Edwards stated the airline would fly 150 planes within 5 years, with a mix of Airbus, Boeing, and Embraer.
On 21 May 2020, Alitalia left the SkyTeam Transatlantic Joint Ventures.
On 29 June 2020, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced that Francesco Caio would be named Chairman and Fabio Lazzerini would be named CEO of the new Alitalia.
On 24 August 2021, Alitalia announced it would be ending all ticket sales on their website and announced customers who purchased tickets for flights after 15 October 2021 will be refunded.
ITA Airways
On 10 October 2020, the Italian government signed a decree to allow the reorganization of the airline as ITA - Italia Trasporto Aereo S.p.A. On 28 October 2020, it was reported that ITA would buy several assets from Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., including the brand and the flight codes of Alitalia and Alitalia CityLiner, the International Air Transport Association ticketing code (055), the MilleMiglia frequent-flyer program, and airport slots at London Heathrow (68 weekly slots in summer and 65 in winter). The transaction was expected to cost €220 million.
On 8 January 2021, the European Commission sent a letter to the Italian Permanent Representative to the European Union to launch an "open, transparent, non-discriminatory and unconditional tender" to shed Alitalia assets. The letter consisted of 62 requests for clarification, rejecting the idea that the old carrier could sell its belongings to the new company in private negotiation. In the letter, it was stated that the Alitalia brand should not be retained by ITA, since it is an emblematic indicator of continuity (but finally ITA Airways bought the Alitalia brand for 90 million euros, on October 14, 2021). The European Commission suggested that the combined aviation, ground handling, and maintenance businesses should be sold separately to a third party. It also suggested that the slots must be sold, and the MilleMiglia program in its entirety could be transferred to the new corporate entity.
The new airline commenced operations on 15 October 2021.
From Wikipedia’s article on Alitalia, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5