You Will Soon Be Able to Book an Alitalia Flight Once Again
In September 2021, the European Commission concluded that state loans for an amount of €900 million ($1 billion), granted by Italy to Alitalia in 2017, were illegal under EU State aid rules. So the Italian government would have to recover the loans plus interest, from Alitalia.
Alitalia went bankrupt and Italy now has a new flag carrier airline since October 14, 2021, ITA Airways. The Italian government granted capital totaling 1.35 billion euros ($1.6 billion) to the new venture. The EU said this grant is line with market conditions and is not considered illegal state aid.
ITA then paid around $105 million for the rights to the Alitalia brand and website and launched a new frequent flier program, called Volare. ITA Airways also joined SkyTeam, replacing Alitalia.
But Alitalia apparently is not gone forever and you could soon be able to book an Alitalia flight. ITA Airways has revealed that it plans to bring back the Alitalia brand, possibly as soon as March. The news comes from Alfredo Altavilla, ITA Airways President. He shared this information with the Italian parliamnet’s Transport Commission, as reported by Corriere della Sera.
“We purchased the Alitalia brand in October to ensure the company’s operational continuity”, Altavilla said. “We plan to use the brand the same way as some other airlines that have more than one brand within their portfolio, such as KLM with Transavia or Lufthansa with Eurowings”.
Altavilla said that one of the reasons to bring back Alitalia was to lower costs, but he said that neither Alitalia or ITA Airways would be an low-cost airline.
A final decision about the revival of Alitalia is expected on January 31 ,2022.
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Alitalia just needs to go away and die, for God’s sake. ♂️
That should save them a few Euro now that the aircraft won’t need to be re-painted. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.