About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Blood in the Water in Rome: With Alitalia on the Brink of Failure, Norwegian Air Introduces Super Cheap Flights

May 31 2017

While claiming that the decision isn’t driven by a floundering Alitalia, Norwegian announced Rome as a Boeing 787 base today.

No doubt Alitalia’s bankruptcy filing a month ago makes Rome even more appealing, but the carrier was bleeding even before that. Their costs are high and their operations inefficient. And their ability to expand across the Atlantic in an advantageous way is, they say, hamstrung by a revenue-sharing joint venture agreement with Air France and Delta that’s a legacy from when Air France was a major investor in the airline.

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