Alitalia's future?

[Prof Henry]

Rumours about Alitalia's sustainability appear to be in the air again. Does anyone have any reliable advice about their prospects?

 

[Cossie]

Well from my perspective I doubt they will get anymore flights from me.

I have a flight from Alghero to Milan (Linate), all good when I booked, chose a seat at the front. Then I got an email saying that the flight will be brought forward by 15 minutes, again no problem for me. I tried to access the booking through the web site to check on a couple of things. Message as per below displays.



I figure that I should try and contact 'AN' airline, presumably Alitalia, so I find the contact number for them in Australia, go through the prompts, message that there will be a long wait as all their consultants are busy, to get them to call back as soon as they can, press '1'. etc.
Do that, get a confirmation of my number and told they will call me back.
24 hours later, have they called back? In a word no!
Think I'll start looking for an alternative, not flying ryanair though!

 

[juddles]

Alitalia are about as reliable as their government. They are, IMHO, a classic case of an airline existing just because each nation likes to have one.

 

[dajop]

When we had someone in Alitalia flights 2-3 years ago IIRC we called their US number to reach them.

 

[moa999]

And the new Air Italy will only hasten their demise

 

[Cossie]

Fortunately the cost of the ticket is $100, so if I can't get a refund, I'll let it slide and just add it as another thing to learn from experience!

Looking at alternatives now.

 

[Must...Fly!]

How long since you received the re-schedule notification?

Possibly the EXCH/TKT process hasn't been completed yet and your ticket is sitting in a queue to be actioned. When it does, then it should go back to normal.

This is only a possibility...

 

[Cossie]

18th of April, I have flown them before without any issues.

 

[Strategic Aviation]

Alitalia are about as reliable as their government.

Insanity: Italian Government Wants To Take Permanent Stake In Alitalia - One Mile at a Time

This is just so delusional. So the Italian government isn’t going to “rescue” the airline, but rather is going to “re-launch within a strategic transport plan?” All while the government is the primary shareholder? There’s simply no way this is going to end well. Beyond that, what partner would want to take a 49% stake in the airline when the government owns the other 51%?

What makes the timing of this especially interesting is that Air Italy is presently growing like crazy, and wants to become Italy’s new “national airline.” This comes after Qatar Airways bought a 49% stake in the airline. Qatar Airways plans to send 30 Boeing 787s their way, so over the coming years the airline will have a longhaul fleet that’s larger than Alitalia’s.

It sure seems to me like on some level the Italian government is trying to stop Air Italy’s growth. It’ll be interesting to see if that just comes in the form of competing directly with them, or if they’ll put some policies in place to stop Air Italy.

 

[Prof Henry]

We flew 3 legs with Alitalia in January and 2 with BA. Everything about Alitalia was superior to BA.

 

[Sprucegoose]

Alitalia are about as reliable as their government. They are, IMHO, a classic case of an airline existing just because each nation likes to have one.

At least they have less PM's turnover than us....but yes they are hit and miss, but more miss. Classy lounge in Rome when I last flew them.

 

[Mattg]

Well Alitalia is still flying, yet it continues to lose €700,000 per day and there are no interested buyers. It's also been locked out of the new trans-Atlantic joint venture which now includes (only) Delta, Air France/KLM and Virgin Atlantic. Who knows how long the Italian government will continue accepting Alitalia's losses.

Italian government scrambles for deal to save Alitalia

MILAN (AP) — The Italian government is scrambling for a new solution to save struggling airline Alitalia, after a plan involving an international consortium failed. Premier Giuseppe Conte said Tuesday that the government was evaluating alternatives. “We do not have a market solution within...

apnews.com

 

[UP4014]

I wouldn't be booking a ticket with them. They just seem all over the place.

 

[Peter D]

Flew with Alitalia a couple of weeks ago Rome to Malta. Good pleasant flight no problems.

Ticket issued by Croatia Airlines for Split to Malta via Rome. Change of airline and through luggage at Rome.

Very helpful Alitalia service desk at Rome reissued boarding passes so we could sit together.

I admit I was cautious when I booked but all the other options for the route were longer, changing planes in places like Germany, so I chose the most direct route with a short transfer time. Didn’t regret it.

 

[Mattg]

The Italian government has given Alitalia yet another loan.

Staying alive: Alitalia given $443 million government loan

The troubled Italian airline, Alitalia, has been granted an emergency loan by the Italian government in order to continue flying. Yet what are the prospects for the carrier to move forward?

www.aerotime.aero