22.05 pm on Thursday 14 October. Alitalia flight AZ1586 takes off from Cagliari heading towards Rome Fiumicino. Landing is scheduled at 23.10pm. AND the last official flight of Alitalia, the former national airline on which today a curtain will definitively fall after 74 years of history. A little more than 7 hours later, at 6.20 on Friday 15 October, from Milan Linate in the direction of Bari, Ita's first flight takes off, acronym of Italia Trasporto Aereo, the new public company controlled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and led by the president Alfredo Altavilla and by the CEO Fabio Lazzerini. For the occasion, a special livery was chosen with the phrase "Born in 2021" which will camp on the plane in order to celebrate the debut. So we have arrived at the day of handover: away with the old, forward with the new which, however, is perhaps not so new.
THE HISTORY OF ALITALIA
The company founded in 1946 by British European Airways and the Institute for Industrial Reconstruction was called Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali. The first domestic flight arrives on May 5, 47 Turin-Rome-Catania carried out with a Fiat G-12 E aircraft. To see the first hostesses on board, who over the years have become icons of style and of an all-Italian elegance now lost, it will be necessary to wait for 1950. Then the golden decades: those 70s and 80s in which the national airline continues to grow, to expand the fleet and to insert new routes that connect Italy to the world.
I problems begin in the 90s and since then they have never ended: crises, bailouts and state contributions have become the rule up to 1.627 days of extraordinary administration. The latest disbursements in chronological order came in 2017 and 2019 respectively, with two bridging loans finished under the lens (the first has already been rejected) by the EU Antitrust.
The final word comes last year, with the Cura Italia Law which gave the green light to the establishment of the new company wholly owned by the State, Italia Trasporto Aereo. Today, 14 October, the last flight of the former national airline..
THE ALITALIA BRAND
Among the conditions set by Brussels to give the green light to the birth of the new company is the "total economic discontinuity” between the two companies, which means that Ita will not inherit Alitalia's rain of debts, but that it will also have to start from scratch, participating in tenders to acquire the services that will allow it to keep the situation going. It is no coincidence that the story linked to the Alitalia brand, "put up for sale" by the extraordinary commissioners with an auction base of 290 million euros. The first two stages of the race they have gone deserted. The reason is summed up in the words of President Altavilla on the eve of the auction: the amount requested, according to him, was "unrealistic" because it "makes the investment uneconomical". According to rumors, Ita then presented a first offer, rejected, of 50 million euros. Today the umpteenth news: Ita would have offered 90 million euros to the commissioners to buy the Alitalia brand and the "domains" of the website.
WHAT THE NEW COMPANY WILL BE LIKE
The new company will be able to count at least initially on 52 aircraft, the same as the old company, and 45 destinations. The employees will be 2.800 compared to the more than 10 thousand of Alitalia. Passengers will immediately notice some "similarities". In addition to having the same planes, Ita will in fact have the same flight code, the same livery, the same ticket identifier, while the employees will use the same uniforms. Substantial change will come only for who travels to and from Sardinia. In fact, tonight's trip will be the last territorial continuity trip made by Alitalia. From tomorrow to manage connectivity with the island there will be Ita, but the Spanish low cost Volotea. The company, which has confirmed the opening of its third Sardinian base in Alghero, which will join those in Olbia and Cagliari, will operate the service until 14 May 2022 with a discounted rate of 39 euros (taxes excluded) to and from Rome Fiumicino and 47 euros (taxes excluded) to and from Milan Linate, reserved for all residents of Sardinia.
