New Alitalia, Lazzerini confirms: "Fiumicino only HUB, new alliance not before spring 22"
On the occasion of the World Routes Milan 2021, less than six days before the official start of ITA operations and pending [...]
ITA Airways
On the occasion of the World Routes Milan 2021, less than six days before ITA's official start of operations and waiting to hear whether the company will be called Alitalia, CEO Fabio Maria Lazzerini again clarifies the flag carrier's strategy on Milan's airports, branding and the upcoming alliance.
In this article:
Malpensa
The future on the airport in the province of Varese has long been sealed, just like the old Alitalia the new one will also be a marginal carrier. In the business plan there is currently only a connection to New York starting in the 2022 summer season.
Previously, one of the two daily flights that connected Italy with Japan, flight that at the moment, like everything else, will go through Rome Fiumicino.
This is not news, but confirmation. Milan will remain land of conquest for all other carriers, especially American, to transport tourists and business travel to northern Italy.
However, Lazzerini opened to a strategy related to the use of Malpensa Airport for cargo routes, "Not alone and with a strong partner who can help and complement us in this direction."
Linate
"We defended our slots at Linate with our teeth, the redemption starts from here," is how the CEO summed up the revival plan from Milan's city airport.
"Lombardy is one of the regions with the highest GDP on the continent, and Linate needs to be connected as much as possible: we have in the plan point-to-point, multifrequency connections designed primarily for business customers," Lazzerini explained.
Losing the slots at Linate would have meant certain death for ITA and also the new fleet ordered from Airbus gave a glimpse of how they will still focus so much on the traffic that is now the hunting ground of lowcost carriers.
The alliance
Discussions with Skyteam (Air France/KLM and Delta) and Star Alliance (Lufthansa and United) are continuing but Lazzerini predicts the decision will not come before 2022.
I personally believe that in light of the reduced network and the desire of so many Italians to return to travel, this wait could further damage ITA. In the meantime, to mitigate the damage, the CEO explained, the following will be activated Individual agreements for code share flights, such as with Delta for the U.S..
The brand
"We hope to call ourselves Alitalia on October 15, but at the moment it's not sure yet." Gone unsuccessful the first auction for the brand and related assett such as the website, facebook pages, ticket code, etc. Now the second one is underway, if there is no outcome it will go to private negotiation.
"We did what we had to do, you can't say what, but something we did, we made our decisions. The dates of the decision of the brand race are close to our departure and we did not agree with the initial price."
No word on the new loyalty program, dead Millemiglia to date there are not even rumors of what might be the company's new loyalty orphaned by the 5 million subscribers to the old program.
