Rail transport drove Italy's oldest airline to bankruptcy
As reported by "Russkaya Germaniya", Alitalia operated its last flight on October 14 from Rome to Cagliari, after which it ceased to exist. Its name has been put up for auction, and the brand, known since 1946, can now be bought by anyone.
The world-famous Italian airline, whose services were invariably used by all Popes, was plagued by problems throughout the 2000s. In 2008, the carrier had already gone bankrupt, and a new one with exactly the same name emerged on its basis. In the 2010s, a large stake in the airline was bought by Arab Etihad Airways, but management from the UAE could not save the company. Alitalia repeatedly found itself at the center of scandals.
In 2013, about a hundred airline employees were detained for theft and fraud. In 2017, the carrier again announced that it would begin preparations for bankruptcy. The procedure was brought to its logical conclusion only now. At the same time, a year ago, the Italian government managed to consolidate all Alitalia shares in its hands again, which helped make the transfer of assets to the new carrier as painless as possible. At the same time, the Italian government provided the airline with loans totaling 1.3 billion euros in recent years.
The Italian authorities decided that everything in the old airline was inefficient: assets, management system, and even the aircraft were outdated. Therefore, it was decided to create a new fully state-owned airline from scratch and not burden it with debts. The carrier was named Italia Trasporto Aereo (ITA), although management has already stated that it intends to compete for the purchase of the Alitalia brand.
ITA operated its first flight on October 15, the day after the closure of old Alitalia. In the first phase, the airline will use 52 of the 84 aircraft of its predecessor (ten years ago, Alitalia had about 150 aircraft). At launch, ITA will fly to 36 domestic and European destinations, as well as operate two long-haul flights (to New York and Tokyo). It is planned that by 2022 the new company's fleet will grow to 78 aircraft, and by the end of 2025 to 105 aircraft.
Choosing between American manufacturer Boeing and European Airbus, the Italians chose the latter. Preliminary agreements with Airbus include the supply of ten long-haul A330 neo, seven regional A220, and 11 short-haul A320 neo. In the future, the airline also intends to purchase state-of-the-art long-haul A350-900 aircraft.
At the same time, ITA clarified that the number of lessors will be reduced from 12 Alitalia counterparties to six. This order turned out to be a good boost for Airbus, which faced a drop in production amid the pandemic and the refusal of a number of airlines from made orders for aircraft.
The new airline hired only 2,800 employees of the old Alitalia out of 10,000. In addition, pilots at ITA will be paid 40% less, and the overall reduction in staff salaries across the airline will average 25%. This has already caused a wave of protests and strikes, against which the new carrier began flights.
ITA has already stated that it intends to join Star Alliance in the future, which includes more than 20 airlines, including German Lufthansa. This is another difference from Alitalia, which was part of the competing Skyteam alliance (the most notable European member of which is the KLM-Air France group). Typically, within an alliance, airlines try not to compete and help fill each other's planes, especially on long-haul routes. A Lufthansa representative has already told Reuters that the airline would be happy to cooperate with a new partner.
The reason for Alitalia's failures, according to CNN, was the carrier's wrong focus on domestic routes, where passengers are increasingly prioritizing rail carriers. For comparison: on the most popular Italian route from Rome to Milan, a plane flies for an hour, while a train takes about three hours. But to the flight by plane, you need to add the time required for all pre- and post-flight procedures. As a result, it takes longer.
Over the past ten years, the number of train passengers on the route has grown 3.5 times, and now rail accounts for two-thirds of traffic between the capital and Italy's second city.