Italia Trasporto Aereo – that’s the name of Italy's new national carrier, which will replace Alitalia.
Alitalia, created in 1946, managed to retain its status as a quintessentially Italian iconic brand, despite many years of non-profitability and labour turmoil. Now it will shut down on October 15.
Tickets for ITA flights go on sale from Thursday August 26, and flights are reported to be scheduled to launch on October 15.
At midnight on August 24, Alitalia stopped selling tickets for flights departing after October 15. Alitalia says passengers with flights booked after October 15 will be reimbursed from a €100m (R1,76bn) fund created by the Italian government specifically for that purpose. The airline says it will communicate directly with passengers.
Negotiations are under way between ITA and trade union representatives, on new working conditions that ITA says are “in line with market practices".
According to Italian media, Alitalia currently has a staff of 11 000. Italian newspaper La Repubblica reports that only 2 800 people will be employed in ITA's aviation unit this year, with this number possibly rising to 5 750 in 2025 if the company wins the tender for Alitalia’s ground handling and maintenance divisions. The publication also reported that all employees of ITA would be obliged to vaccinate, test negative or show proof they have recovered from COVID-19.
The Italian government was already looking for investors in the bankrupt Alitalia in 2017, but failed to find any interested parties, although the airline continued flying. The grounding of all airlines by the pandemic, for months at a time, exacerbated the situation. Talks between Italy and the European Commission have been held on the role of the new carrier and how to keep it independent of Alitalia, to ensure it is not liable to pay back billions of euros that the old carrier received in state aid, according to Reuters reports.
ITA launches on capital of €700m (R1,23bn) which it will use to buy assets from Alitalia – 52 aircraft, contracts and some slots (85% of Alitalia’s existing slots at Linate Milan and only 43% of Alitalia’s slots at Fiumicino, Rome). It has already taken delivery of the first A330-200.
ITA’s board has approved a five-year plan in which it doubles the size of the fleet by 2025.
The airline will fly under the ICAO code ITY.
