Tuesday,
January 13, 2009
Alitalia Begins New Era
The
ANNOTICO Report
As
part of its restructuring, Alitalia has been merged with its biggest
domestic rival, Air One SpA, giving it more than
a 55% share of Italy's Lucrative domestic routes, and has approved a
cooperation accord with Air France-KLM, giving the French-Dutch carrier a
25 percent stake for a payment of EU 323 million
The
airline's finances have been cleaned up, thanks to a decree issued by Prime
Minister Silvio Berlusconi, allowing the state to
shoulder most of the airline's crushing debt load, and allow the state to make sharp reductions in its staff. Alitalia's
had more than 18,000 employees at the end of August. The merged airline has a
combined staff of about 12,500.
New Alitalia Flies Crowded Skies
Wall
Street Journal
By
Stacy Meichtry
JANUARY 12, 2009,
Alitalia has
undergone massive change since it entered bankruptcy protection in late August
with more than ?1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) in debt.
Alitalia
special administrator Rocco Sabelli (left) and
Alitalia head Roberto Colaninno announce that Alitalia
has approved a cooperation accord with Air France-KLM, giving the French-Dutch
carrier a 25 percent stake.
The airline's
finances have been cleaned up, thanks to a decree issued by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, allowing the state to cut thousands of
staff and shoulder most of the airline's crushing debt load. That helped
attract more than a dozen Italian investors, who recently bought some of
Alitalia's planes and take-off and landing slots to launch a new airline under
the same name.
Alitalia announced
on Monday that it had signed on to a partnership with Air France-KLM. Under the
deal, Air
The new investors
plan to rebuild Alitalia on a daring premise: Alitalia can reclaim the
dominance it enjoyed over
As part of its
restructuring, Alitalia has been merged with its biggest domestic rival, Air
One SpA, giving it more than a 55% share of
But maintaining
that market share could be difficult in today's crowded air-travel market, some
analysts say. Several low-cost carriers have taken advantage of Alitalia's
decline to establish strong footholds in
Alitalia's
domestic market share, as measured by seat capacity, dropped to 15% this month
from 52% in January 2005, according to Innovata Ltd.,
an Atlanta-based airline industry database firm.
In addition to
the low-cost carriers, Deutsche Lufthansa AG is challenging Alitalia on its
home turf. In coming months, the German airline plans to launch an Italian
subsidiary, Lufthansa Italia, which will operate six planes out of
Alitalia expects
to compete better with its low-cost rivals, following cost cuts resulting from
its restructuring and its partnership with Air
The merger with
Air One, meanwhile, has allowed Alitalia to replace many of its older planes
with Air One's newer, more fuel-efficient jets. The airline also has made sharp
reductions in its staff. Alitalia's had more than 18,000 employees at the end
of August. The merged airline has a combined staff of about 12,500.
Alitalia's leaner
operations mark a strong departure from the airline's past. Cabin crew that
chose to live in different cities from their points of departure were routinely ferried to work on Alitalia flights as
passengers. And in its heyday in the 1960s, some of Alitalia's planes boasted
cabins lined with artwork by futurist painters. Alitalia's bankruptcy
administrator plans to sell much of those pieces at auction.
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