The deepest crisis in aviation history might seem the worst time to relaunch an airline. But for Alitalia the turmoil could provide just the opportunity to drive through reforms that politicians and unions have refused to accept in the past.
"Alitalia has tried in the past to cut domestic point-to-point routes, but local politicians or the government always demanded they be restored," said a company source close to CEO Fabio Lazzerini, named in November to lead the revival. Founded in World War Two's aftermath, Alitalia was long relied upon to connect Italian cities and resorts, a role now steadily usurped by low-cost carriers. In 2019, Ryanair's Italian traffic was almost twice Alitalia's 21.77 million passengers, with easyJet a close third.
A workforce of 9,500 – compared with 11,000 in 2019 – will be hired on new contracts rather than carried over, according to the presentation, and the state's return on investment"might be 10per cent" when the plan ends in 2025. Alitalia is disadvantaged by geography against rivals based in Dubai, Paris or London, having chosen Rome over Milan as its connecting hub"for political reasons", Halstead said."Rome is badly placed for intercontinental routes."
The relaunch also needs swift Italian decisions on existing Alitalia jobs that successive governments have dodged, instead committing another 5 billion euros to the airline since 2017, by the reckoning of Andrea Giuricin, a transport economist at Milan's Bicocca University.Union tensions have flared over Lazzerini's resistance to retaining the old workforce, while delays in transferring planes and other assets threaten to derail his plan.
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