the last flight of the Italian flag carrier gives way to ITA, a new 100% public company
With tonight's Cagliari-Rome flight, the history of Alitalia, a symbol around the world, concludes, after 74 years and several rescues that failed to keep it afloat and a new fully state airline will be born with a fleet of 52 aircraft and that It will only hire about 3,000 of the company's 11,000 former employees.
The Airbus A320 flight that will take off at 22.05 local time (20.05 GMT) from Cagliari (Sardinia) arriving at 23.10 (21.10 GMT) to Rome Fiumicino, with 177 passengers and piloted by Commander Andrea Gioia, will be the last of the Italian flag carrier, the company of the popes in 169 international trips.
Thus ends a story of successes, but also of continuous failures in its management, with losses of 1.8 billion euros for the State coffers, which is now once again responsible, under the watchful eye of the European Union, of another airline of flag, Italy Air Transport (ITA), which can guarantee the first essential flights for connections in the country.
8,000 unemployed workers
The Alitalia workers gathered again today like the days before at the Roman airport of Fiumicino to protest the closure of Alitalia and the 8,000 people who will be unemployed from tomorrow.
"Today is the last day of the company thanks to an Italian policy that has not helped us and some incompetent leaders. We have protested but they have not listened to us," explained Simonetta, who had worked in the company since 1990, while his colleague Daniele, who He has been at Alitalia for 35 years, calling the change "a social disaster" that will affect "especially younger workers."
Insecurity about the future is what worries the most, as Barbara, with 25 years in the airline, assured: "We have found ourselves without work from today to tomorrow, we do not have retirement age and we do not know what we will do. We are fathers and mothers of family and there is fear of the future. "
Successes and failures
After the first Rome-Turin flight in 1947, Alitalia became one of the internationally preferred airlines for its passenger service. In 1960 it was an official sponsor of the Olympic Games in Rome and in the following decades international routes were opened, especially in America and the East.
In the mid-90s, economic problems began and the attempted first and failed merger with Air France, which finally materialized in 1997 with the Dutch KLM.
The agreement provided for the relocation of the distribution center from Rome-Fiumicino to Milan-Malpensa and the closure of almost all flights from Milan's Linate airport, but in April 2000 KLM decided to terminate the alliance and began the first privatization attempts, which lasted until 2007, when the Air France-KLM offer was accepted.
But the following year, one step away from the final agreement, Air France withdrew when Silvio Berlusconi did not guarantee the offer of the Franco-Dutch group in case of winning the elections, as it happened.
The idea then arose of a national consortium of entrepreneurs headed by Roberto Colaninno and that included the Benetton group and was born in 2009 CAI, the union of Alitalia and the airline Airone, with Air France-KLM as a strategic partner with 25 percent of the capital. .
In five years, the company changed three CEOs and in the last quarter of 2013 a recapitalization was necessary, already without the participation of Air France, while the state-owned Italian Post Office (Poste Italiane) entered into a subsequent capital increase, with 75 millions of euros.
On August 8, 2014, Etihad Airways announced the purchase of 49% of Alitalia, but only three years later Alitalia faced a new financial crisis, which required a recapitalization and a new industrial plan, rejected by the employees.
Finally, on May 2, 2017, the shareholders' meeting approved the extraordinary administration of the company, decreeing the exit of Etihad and all minority shareholders. To keep Alitalia alive, the government provided two bridge loans, of 900 and 400 million euros.
A new and smaller flag carrier
In 2020, the creation of the new company, ITA, was authorized with the Government's commitment to Brussels not to inject more than 1.35 billion euros into capital until 2023, of which 700 million will be allocated this year.
Meanwhile, ITA continues in negotiations with the unions on the conditions of the new contracts, as it is expected that initially it will have less than 3,000 workers, but it will rise to 5,700 in 2025, compared to the almost 11,000 that make up Alitalia's workforce .
The new airline will start its first operations with 52 aircraft, the result of an offer made to the extraordinary management of Alitalia and it is expected that the fleet will expand in 2022 to 78 aircraft and by the end of 2025, to 105.
