ITA, or Italy Air Transport, officially launched after bankrupt flag carrier Alitalia landed its final flights Thursday night, ending a year business history that a series of financial crises had marred in recent years. Protests and strikes accompanied the runup to Alitalia's formal demise because the much smaller ITA Airways is only hiring around a quarter of Alitalia's more than 10, employees.
Negotiations with unions are ongoing. During a conference launching the airline, Altavilla insisted that the greatly reduced size of ITA -- its slimmer fleet, workforce and destinations -- make it a viable carrier that can compete with low-cost airlines while offering better service, connections and value.
He bristled when asked about reported predictions by low-cost carriers, saying of ITA Airways' failure. The first ITA flight was the a. In all, ITA is flying to 44 destinations and aims to increase that number to 74 in four years. Routes to South America and Los Angeles are planned. ITA planes will be royal blue with Alitalia's trademark "tricolore" on the tail, reflecting the red, white and green of the Italian flag.
The Italian national sports team colours are blue, and company officials said Friday that the color scheme chosen for the new aircraft aims to make ITA "azzurri," -- the team nickname -- too. Our vision is to use globally important Italian brands.
It's our wish, but we're already talking with big brands. In the meantime, they will keep using the Alitalia uniforms and livery, although they expect the planes to start being repainted within the first few months.
The decision is partly to save money, he said. Alitalia no more. The news that the company would keep its original name of ITA Airways surprised many who assumed it would want to keep the Alitalia brand going. In documents filed to the US Department of Transport to request permission to fly there, it admitted plans to acquire the Alitalia brand name.
However, Altavilla said there had never been any question of branding the airline as Alitalia. Not least for marketing reasons -- the Italian brand couldn't belong to anyone else except the national flag carrier.
A more efficient fleet. Alitalia was drowning in debt for years before the pandemic, but Altavilla said that the future is bright for ITA, calling the airline "right-sized" both in terms of fleet, staffing and routing.
It's plan is to operate a fleet of new Airbuses, which are both more efficient and less damaging to the environment. It plans to start with 52, and increase to by Incentivizing smiles. But Altavilla said the biggest difference is set to be the service onboard. That wasn't always a given from Alitalia's beleaguered staff, but ITA has found a novel way to invigorate workers: every single employee will have a part of their salary linked not only to the company profits, but also to customer satisfaction.
ITA already has a loyalty program, Volare, and it plans to join one of the major alliances -- though Altavilla would not be drawn on which one was favored, saying all offers were being valued. No more 'battery chicken farms'. Starting an airline in a pandemic is no mean feat, especially with the sad history that has gone before it.
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