Alitalia’s new executive team and strategic investors announced their commitment this week “to reinvent the airline” with new routes, new product and service standards, a new cost management strategy and new branding.
Following the completion of the 49% equity investment by Etihad Airways, the “new Alitalia”, as it has been dubbed since January 1, “will change many things, starting with the way we work. We need to work as one united team to achieve this great common goal,” said board chairman Luca di Montezemolo, flanked by CEO Silvano Cassano, and James Hogan, President and CEO of Etihad Aviation Group and Vice Chairman of Alitalia.
“The revitalised Alitalia we envision and have started building, will be an asset to this country, and a driver to support the growth of our tourism and our business,” said former Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo.
“In a market still beset by the continuing Eurozone crisis, anything other than rapid, decisive change is simply not an option,” added Etihad’s Hogan.
“We’ve invested in the new Alitalia because we believe it can flourish again. It will only succeed if there is 100 per cent support from everyone. The coming months and next few years will not be easy, but if everyone pulls together as one team, Alitalia can grow again,” with the aim to deliver profitability by 2017.
Cassano added: “A successful Alitalia means jobs, it means trade and it means tourism. It means a major impact on the Italian economy.”
The key elements of the new business plan include a three-hub strategy in Italy. Milan Malpensa will increase long-haul services, Milan Linate will increase connectivity with partner airline hubs and Rome Fiumicino will grow long-haul flying and continue to expand short and medium haul flying.
The network will be optimised twith increased codesharing, new routes will be introduced from Rome including Berlin, Dusseldorf, San Francisco, Mexico City, Santiago (Chile), Beijing and Seoul, with increased flights to New York, Chicago, Rio de Janeiro and Abu Dhabi.
Alitalia will also add 13 weekly flights from Milan Malpensa, with daily services to Abu Dhabi, four flights a week to Shanghai, and additional flights to Tokyo.
There will also be increased connectivity with Etihad’s hub in Abu Dhabi, with daily services from Venice, Milan, Bologna and Catania, as well as additional flights from Rome, all allowing onward connections to the Middle East, Africa, the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, China and Australia.
Finally, Venice will be the only Italian airport, in addition to Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa, from which Alitalia will operate services to Abu Dhabi with long-haul aircraft.
While exploring further opportunities to deepen the relationships with Skyteam members and in particular Air France/KLM and Delta, there will be a major new partnership with airberlin & NIKI, as well as increased connectivity with Etihad. There are also plans to work more deeply with Air Serbia and Etihad Regional. These partnerships will increase customer choice across many markets.
Alitalia www.alitalia.com and Etihad and its partners are also exploring opportunities to improve fleet efficiency. For example, Alitalia is in the process of relocating 14 Airbus A320s to airberlin, and looking into options with Etihad to acquire additional wide-body aircraft for Alitalia.
Alitalia will launch a new brand and visual identity, covering aircraft, uniforms and all other customer touch-points. While the name will remain unchanged, the new branding will seek to capture and embody the essence of Italy.
Alitalia’s winter 2014/2015 schedule provides service to 83 destinations, including 26 in Italy and 57 in the rest of the world. Etihad www.etihad.com holds equity investments in airberlin, Air Seychelles, Virgin Australia, Aer Lingus, Air Serbia, Jet Airways and Alitalia, and is in the process of formalising an equity investment in Swiss-based Etihad Regional, operated by Darwin Airline.
