December 18, 2020 / The latest incarnation of Alitalia (AZ), called ITA (Italia Trasporto Aereo) will be a downsized version of the old Italian flag carrier aiming to be profitable in 2022, excluding aircraft costs. CEO Fabio Lazzerini and president Francesco Caio presented the industrial plan for 2021-2025 today and introduced the airline as “a startup”.
Rome Fiumicino (FCO) and Milan Linate (LIN) airports have been confirmed as hubs, while Alitalia ITA is going to have 52 aircraft in its fleet and a workforce around 5,100 – 5,200, both figures being half those of the old Alitalia, which boasted more than 100 aircraft and a workforce around 10,000. It has not been revealed yet which aircraft types will be in force at the “startup”, but Lazzerini anticipated that, by 2024, 32% of AZ’s fleet will be made by long-range aircraft and that 75% of aircraft will be environmentally friendly, confirming anticipations saying that Airbus A320neo family and A220 family aircraft will substitute the A320ceo fleet now in force. For the long-range, the same sources revealed the intention of the nationalized carrier to adopt the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, both in its -8 and -9 version.
The Italian government has set aside 3 billion euros ($3.7 billion) for fleet development and investments in infrastructure, network, and IT. Lazzerini and Chairman-elect Francesco Caio face widespread scepticism that the renationalised Alitalia can be profitable after it burnt through around 8 billion euros of taxpayers’ money in the last four years.
A key-moment of the new carrier, as the CEO stressed, will be the choice of an international partner next year: currently, Alitalia is a member of Skyteam Alliance which includes US giant Delta Airlines (DL) and the Air France-KLM (AF-KL) Group in Europe, but earlier this year Lufthansa (LH) held talks with the old Alitalia over a possible alliance, as Reuters noted. The 2021-2025 plan for the new Alitalia will now be submitted to the Italian parliament and to the European Commission for approval. (Photo Alitalia)