Alitalia

Alitalia is the flag carrier of Italy. The name is an Italian linguistic bend of the words: Ali which means Wings and Italia which is obviously referred to the beautiful country of Italy. The company has its head office in Fiumicino, Rome, Italy, and has Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino airport as its main hub and Milan Linate Airport in Milan as its secondary Hub. Other Focus Airports are: Catania-Fontanarossa Airport, Milan-Malpensa Airport, Palermo Airport, Turin Airport, and Venice Marco Polo Airport; Tirana Airport–is the only focus city outside Italy. Alitalia has a fleet size of 103 which travels to 27 domestic and 70 international scheduled destinations.

Origins and Ownership

A group of investors made the Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI) consortium, aimed to buy the bankrupt old Alitalia: Alitalia – Linee Aeree Italian, and to merge it with another bankrupt Italian carrier: Air One, in 2008. CAI offered one billion euro to acquire parts of the bankrupt airline, amidst pilots’ and flight crew members’ opposition to labour agreements.
The New Alitalia has not claimed the old Alitalia’s history as its own, as can be seen in official documents regarding the new Alitalia Group. Instead, they stressed they are a totally different company, which can seen in different occasions. It was in January 2009 when the New Alitalia launched operations.

Cramer Ball was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Alitalia in March 2016, having previously held senior roles in India, Africa, Asia and Australia. Cramer Ball graduated with a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Newcastle Australia to then qualify as a certified practicing accountant. He started his career as an accountant and initially focused on financial management roles, including treasury manager at Transfield Holdings. Cramer Ball is currently a member of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants.

 

 

What people are saying

Even though the airline is operating as a new company and giving services under a new management, it seems that its passengers weren’t as pleased as the airline expects them to be. Surely, they’ve made a lot of improvements through their seats, facilities, and aircrafts, but still–the passengers think that Alitalia lacks something. Here are some of the reviews.

“My daughter’s luggage arrived in Zurich. Mine did not. No one knew where it was for 4 days and was finally found in Malaga, Spain. Not having my luggage ruined the last week of my trip. I had only the clothes I was wearing the day we left Rome for another whole week. I arrived back in the US and it was another whole week before I finally got my things back. It took forever to get them to reply to my claim for reimbursement of the basic items I had to buy since everything was lost. When they finally “agreed” to reimburse me, they said they had 30 days to get the reimbursement to me. Now it’s been 34 days and I haven’t seen a penny. They have the nerve to say they appreciate my business and want to keep my loyalty as a customer. I am just appalled at their lack of customer service.”
—F Melloe (United States)

“I was nervous flying with Alitalia for the first time this summer due to all the negative reviews I had read. Our flight was Toronto to Barcelona via Rome, and return flight was Skopje to Toronto via Rome. Although customs/passport control in Rome was a tedious process, everything aboard Alitalia was great from the moment we sat down. The seats in economy were comfy (as comfy as you can get in economy class) and had a good amount of recline. There was space for someone taller to stretch their legs as well. The headrest was a bit awkward as I’m short, but didn’t matter as I had a pillow. Inflight entertainment was solid – good options of newer movies and shows. Food was pretty good for an airline. I have always flown Delta so I was nervous how our meal/snacks would be on a 8+ hour flight but Alitalia did not disappoint. We also didn’t lose any baggage (major complaint of this airline). Given the cheap price and convenience, I would definitely fly Alitalia again.”
—Lenka Sika (United States)

“We flew from Rome FCO to Toronto in Alitalia’s A330s Business class. The flight was on time, and service was punctual, albeit unexciting, the food choice was good, and quality acceptable. Cabin arrangement is a definite improvement compared to other older Alitalia long distance airplanes. Seats are arranged to provide free aisle access and are 180 lie-flat, quite comfortable for a 9-hour flight. The only flaws are a quite cumbersome table hinge – you hit your knees frequently – and a protruding table clasp that is positioned so that it can rip your pants’ pocket. An elegant amenity kit, slightly poor in its contents. Of the inflight entertainment, I only checked out the front camera view, showing takeoff and landing from the aircraft’s nose. Overall a good value for money, probably the best option on this route.”
—F Lawson (Canada)

The Website

The website shows a minimalistic yet colorful interface, with beautiful pictures that has zooming effects every time the user hovers the mouse pointer over the photo. The website allows the user to check for flights, do an online check-in, check their flights and flight info. They also offer different flight deals, which you can discover by going through their website. You can visit Alitalia’s website by clicking this link.

Contact information

Website URL: www.alitalia.com
Contact number: +39 06 65 64 9, +39 06 65 63 1
Contact Email: ufficio.stampa@alitalia.it
Fax Number: +39 06 65 63 58 74
Head Office Address: Plaza Almerico da Schio, 3, 00054 Fiumicino, (RM), Italy

Conclusion

Aside from getting complaints about their low customer service assistance. Alitalia still offers great services towards their passengers. Clean facilities, and delicious meals, fast and smooth flight and comfortable seats. The Airline is also gathering numbers of positive feedbacks from its passengers, still–Alitalia should not neglect the complaints given by its customers, to regain trust and reliability, and to ensure its passengers that they will have a comfortable, efficient and convenient flight with them.