Alitalia became ITA Airways (Italia Trasporto Aereo) after a restructuring aimed at keeping Italy’s national airline afloat.
Before the pandemic Alitalia was losing 2 million euros a day.
Tag Archives for alitalia.
by Gary Leff
Alitalia became ITA Airways (Italia Trasporto Aereo) after a restructuring aimed at keeping Italy’s national airline afloat.
Before the pandemic Alitalia was losing 2 million euros a day.
by Gary Leff
ITA Airways is the new Alitalia – a small Italian state airline that the EU keeps slow-walking Lufthansa’s ability to buy. It’s Alitalia with a new name, without some of its legacy costs, but with many of the same problems with its business model.
One thing that’s different about ITA Airways, though, is the frequent flyer program. ITA Airways is a member of SkyTeam but it only has limited participation. They don’t fully link up with all other members of the alliance.
by Gary Leff
Last fall the ‘new Alitalia’ ITA Airways offered to give elite status to anyone with a pulse. Many may have skipped that at the time, since the new airline wasn’t yet a part of the SkyTeam (or any) alliance so it was still somewhat speculative what the benefit to do so would be.
Now they’re once again status matching through April 15. Status will be valid through April 15, 2023. There are 3 steps.
by Gary Leff
The ‘new Alitalia’ – ITA Airways – doesn’t have elite frequent flyers yet, and they’d like some. So they’re offering a status match to elites in most programs. So if you would like elite status you just need to e-mail them.
by Gary Leff
Italy has been pumping cash into perennial loss-maker Alitalia for years, despite European Union rules against subsidizing a national carrier. Other airlines have burned through capital with ownership stakes in the airline – Air France and Etihad – but they’ve been burned and other carriers were gun shy to take over given losses of 2 million euros a day even before things began going down hill for the entire aviation industry.
The Italian government wouldn’t stand up to the airline’s unions, and without lowering costs no one was willing to come to a deal to take over the failed airline. Now they’re going to nationalize the carrier and they claim that will make it profitable. They will also consider dropping their partnership with Delta.
by Gary Leff
SkyTeam member and Delta partner Alitalia has been a basket case for years. It’s poorly run, and indeed has largely been run for the benefit of its unions with the help of the Italian government.
One financial backer after another has lost their investment. The government is anxious to find its next victim to take over Alitalia. Who will take the bait?
by Gary Leff
The latest from Italy is that the government is driving to close on a restructuring of the airline with the government continuing to pump in money and take a majority stake of the airline (35% of which would be through the state railway) while Delta takes 10% ownership though presumably exercises outsized influence.
by Gary Leff
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
by Gary Leff
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
by Gary Leff
Just since Monday we’ve seen the amazing Cathay Pacific business and first class fare deal get honored and we’ve seen business class between Chicago and Sydney for under $1500 roundtrip. Now it looks like there’s another special fare deal out there.
There’s an Alitalia business class offer starting at $538 roundtrip between Barcelona and New York JFK — and possibly also Los Angeles and Chicago.
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 »