ITA…….the new face of Alitalia

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Viewing 15 posts - 76 through 90 (of 110 total)

  • AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Some advance news …

    ITA Airways will be adding LCY to its network from March 28.

    It is leasing two Embraers for operations to LCY and two other points in mainland Europe.

    (As most readers will know London City (LCY) is limited to specific aircraft)


    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    I am flying with ITA Airways for the first time next week,

    In preparation, I decided to join the Volare programme, yet was rather dumbfounded by this question.

    ITA-Gender

    6 users thanked author for this post.

    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    I’ve heard back from ITA Airways, and there is an issue with the website for Volare accepting non-US postcodes and so it is actually impossible at the moment to register for the programme.


    transtraxman
    Participant

    “Air France-KLM, Delta bid for majority stake in Italy’s ITA”, (ch-aviation, 11-3-22).
    This purchase is to be done together with “the support of an unnamed international fund that is active in the tourism sector. …. With this fund’s participation, Air France, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Delta aim to consolidate their relationships with the cruise and leisure travel sectors.”

    This offer is against one already made by MSC with Lufthansa support. A third investment fund is also said to have made/to be making an offer. This fund “had previously invested in “the world’s most important low-cost carriers.” “. What springs to mind is the possibility that this fund is Indigo Partners which also invests in the other Wizzair airlines, and Frontier, Jetsmart and Volaris airlines in the Americas.This last piece is only a supposition not a fact.

    https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/113374-air-france-klm-delta-bid-for-majority-stake-in-italys-ita


    transtraxman
    Participant

    “Indigo Partners expresses interest in ITA Airways – report”, (ch-aviation, 15-03-22)
    In my post of 11-03-22 I speculated on the investment fund interested in entering ITA.This article confirms that it is Indigo Partners.

    https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/113468-indigo-partners-expresses-interest-in-ita-airways-report


    LuganoPirate
    Participant

    Just following on, I just checked on the ITA app, and found my membership card with Premium Status and the Skyteam logo with “Elite Plus” status. Surprisingly it was all very smooth and efficient.!


    Tom Otley
    Keymaster

    Your ‘zip code’ must be already in the system 🙂

    I am still trying to register for Volare to retrospectively get credit for the flights to and from Rome last week…

    Review to appear tomorrow…


    MarcusGB
    Participant

    Alitalia was part of Skyteam, and it would seem Air France KLM group are one of the bidders.
    Having said that they poured a few million into it and it still failed, but even the Italian Postal service did also! We had a thread on this topic a long time back!
    I recall even Etihad tried for it at one stage to create a European network.
    I also heard “A0Lie-Talia” was commonly used as lateness, services often missing, delays, all that went wrong with the group “shrugged shouldered” as i often saw staff doong!

    Certainly it would be better inside an Alliance, but they have all suffered losses of Airlines, Garuda, Thai, Cathay from each Alliance for eg.

    (I say this with Tongue in cheek, as Catholic, so there is no offence at all intended! We tend to be well humoured and laugh at ourselves. I have a personal friend who has quickly risen to be an Young Archbishop in Liberable well balanced Australia, as well as many senior clergy around certain cities. We had with much joy, discussed this distinct Branding when Alitalia was operating, with constant issues!)…

    – So, Perhaps it is time for The Vatican to Step in, and the loyalty of a Billion of us Catholics would be ready to support it Immediately, whole families in fact, No marketing required.

    = “Papal Airlines” or “Vatican Air” may well go down well, would identify Worldwide- instead.

    =A Status Match with The Virgin Group, and Their various branded Airlines Worldwide?, would create a seamless network on many continents.

    = With a Blessing before take off. Safety and reliability , on time services, as a high priority, “Cross Check” would be easy for trained & Consecrated Sisters or Brothers crew, and teamwork natural in their Ordained workforce.

    ” Plane-ing / de-plane-ing” as KLM like to call it., with a choral peaceful music to create a high culture, quietness aboard. A Bless-ed Bread snack, served with a Branded Communion Red wine, for flights under 2.5 hrs Items would be sourced from Organic, and ethical sustainable suppliers.

    – A tiered Loyalty program could be offered for the Faithful Frequent Flyers, or Mass attendees offered extra credits, discounts for Those that attend services more than Just Easter, and Midnight Xmas at Xmas, and Priority Boarding for the regular Mass goers.

    – “Bishop Class” would offer a premium product equivalent,
    I am sure a Rev. Mother would Manage the flight team very well, and it would all run smoothly.

    – “Baggage” for the sinful would be labeled “Non priority”, and Priority for those who carry smaller amounts of Sinful baggage, or have recently confessed, therefore travel lighter. However those with excess baggage would be refused Boarding

    = Air passenger charges ste by Governments, would be abolished as immoral and sinful of course, greed would not be well received!
    ===========================================================================

    I am sure the regulars on the forum here, could add more on the brand and service…?!

    2 users thanked author for this post.

    Swissdiver
    Participant

    I am a member of MilleMiglia that is still up and running. But I see there is also this Volare program. The latter appear however to the be the new official one. What about the former?


    transtraxman
    Participant

    It seems that all is not well in ITA.
    With the appointment of different financial and legal advisors by ITA and the Italian government, a lot of tension and conflict has already been provoked between the two parts resulting in the resignation of six members of ITA´s board of directors.
    The Italian government wants to sell a majority stake in the airline while maintaining a minority one by direct sale or a public offering. Interested parties mentioned are Lufthansa with the shipping line MSC, Air France-KLM, and Indigo partners which owns Wizzair together with a range of low cost airlines in the Americas. These interested parties have not changed since my post of 11-3-22 last.

    “Tensions grow as Rome seeks ITA Airways deal by late 2Q22,” (ch-aviation, 1-4-22)

    https://www.ch-aviation.com/portal/news/114148-tensions-grow-as-rome-seeks-ita-airways-deal-by-late-2q22

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    It’s reported from France that ITA has now ordered 10 Airbus 320 neos plus two A330 neos.

    Supplied by leasing company for delivery in 2023/24.

    1 user thanked author for this post.

    sparkyflier
    Participant

    Not having much confidence in this new outfit I was hesitant at even thinking of joining the ITA club. I eventually decided to do so, perhaps mainly in case another airline gave a further status match, and with also in mind to give them a chance.

    Well I applied a few weeks ago for the BAEC Gold Status Match. Credit to them they did send me an email reasonably quickly asking me to resend them, which I then did.

    However nearly 2 weeks ago I still have not heard from them. And more recently was thinking of flying them in a future travel plan and on another trip wondering whether to allocate the points to my current Flying Blue to to the “new” airline.

    However my initial lack of confidence that this airline might be a decent option seems to be proven justified. Like Iberia I simply do not now have confidence in them if they cannot manage basic communications and efficiency. Having also sent my passport information I wonder if there may be some data issue which they are farming for.

    I just wish Virgin would join Skyteam. I would be far more likely to travel with them and Skyteam airlines if they did..


    AMcWhirter
    Participant

    Hello sparkyflyer

    Of course there’s no excuse for bad service. At least you ought to have received an acknowledgement.

    One reason might be the future ownership issue which would determine which alliance ITA Airways eventually joins.


    Tramor01
    Participant

    I’m not a big Sky Team user, normally it’s only when I’m flying Vietnam Airways.
    I’m a basic Flying Blue member so I decided why not, might as well have a go.
    I applied for membership on 15th of April and once issued a membership number I requested the upgrade – I received a confirmation email of my upgrade on the 19th!


    sparkyflier
    Participant

    Hi Tramor01. Thank you for sharing your experience. To clarify you requested the status match with ITA from your BA Silver or Gold? in my instance they responded a few days after I applied, asking me to resend my membership and passport details in JPeg etc, which I did but not heard anything since.

    AMcWhirter thank you for your reply also, but why do you think their future ownership issue be a factor in delaying dealing with my application? Surely showing any potential buyer that you have members who will be keen to fly with them and the new owners will make them a more attractive business prospect?

    1 user thanked author for this post.
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