The new Italian national carrier, known under its working title ITA, has outlined its business strategy up to 2025. If its plans are approved by the European Commission, the company would launch in April or May, although there is no guarantee it will get the green light from Brussels to do so as over 100 objections have been raised. Under its development plan, the airline does not intend on restoring flights to the former Yugoslavia in 2021. Instead, it will make its return to the region in 2022 with services from Rome to Belgrade. Flights to Podgorica, as well as seasonal operations to Dubrovnik and Split, are not planned.
In 2021, the new airline will have a fleet of 52 aircraft, nine of which will be widebodies. In the Euromediterranean region, it plans to serve London, Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris, Munich, Zurich, Geneva, Barcelona, Madrid. Algiers, Tunis, Athens, Tirana, Cairo and Tel Aviv from Rome, while next year it will restart operations Valencia, Malaga, Frankfurt, Marseille, Belgrade, Malta and Sofia. At this point, Alitalia continues to sell tickets from Rome to both Belgrade and Podgorica from late March. The European Commission has made a slew of objections to the business plan which will have to be resolved in order for it to approve a three billion euro injection by the Italian government into the new company, among which is that the airline should no longer be called Alitalia. There are also other questions that need to be answered concerning the business model to be adopted by ITA, including how many hubs will be operated, how long it will take for routes to move into profitability and how the fleet will be sourced.
 |
| ITA's planned Euromediterranean route network development |
Currently, the only flights between Italy and the former Yugoslavia are from Split to Rome, run by Croatia Airlines. Due to stringent entry restrictions, Air Serbia has not operated flights to Italy, where it serves Rome, Milan and Venice from Belgrade, as well as Bologna from Niš, since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Overall, Italy is one of its biggest markets. On the other hand, there are also no flights between Podgorica and Rome due to the collapse of Montenegro Airlines, which was the only carrier to serve the two countries besides Alitalia. The Italian carrier suspended its year-round flights from Rome to both Belgrade and Podgorica last March.
Wow 3 billion for new airline
ReplyDeleteOpportunity for JU & OU to seize the moment, that is once Italy allows flights from the yugo-zone.
ReplyDeleteWhat difference is there, besides that they will return to BEG next year instead of 2021
DeleteThey get a full year without competition.
DeleteUnfortunately I doubt OU will seize the moment. They have had the same operations to Italy for the past 20 years.
DeleteThat's the difference, before ITA returns in 2022 JU & OU can corner the market.
DeleteOU seize the moment? Lol. Good luck with that.
DeleteAlitalia flew to Croatia insignificantly. 2 pw to both SPU and DBV for 2 or 3 months during summer. They operated less months that any other airline there.
Delete@An. 09.32
DeleteAlitalia flew to ZAG twice daily, year-round, from Milan. They stopped the service with one of the changes in strategy, when they basically left MXP with all or almost all services, not only ZAG, and concentrated on FCO only. Do you need better proof that the market exist when even OU flies between ZAG and MXP. And even JAT flew daily BEG-ZAG-LIN/MXP. After all, Italy is the biggest foreign trade partner of Croatia, and majority of businesses are concentrated in areas around Zagreb and Milano. Also Italians are among the top city break visitors to ZAG. But once again Alitalia seems to be concentrating on Rome instead of Milano.
Thank you for info but i was talking about 2019. not times before economical crisis when they had really big ex-yu coverage from both MXP and FCO.
DeleteInteresting thing to note, back during the old JAT, in the 80s I believe they flew Zagreb-Split-Rome and Zagreb-Dubrovnik-Rome. Just like Croatia Airlines now. Pozdrav iz Rijeke probably knows better but this is what I can remember.
DeleteNegative @AN.23.32. JAT flew daily to Rome, with one stop, via SPU or DBV, but not from Zagreb. The flight was originating /ending in Belgrade. However, it was possible to fly to FCO from ZAG with one stop as well, using one of up to five daily domestic flights between ZAG and SPU or DBV and connecting there to international flight to Rome originating in BEG. What you are absolutely right about is the fact that OU just copypasted what JAT was doing 40 years ago, just showing how little or nothing they did to improve this particular service and how inert and uninventive they are generally
DeleteSome of those EU conditions are so ludicrous, like importance of changing the company name so it does not show "continuity" with Alitalia.
ReplyDeleteIt's typical. They are dealing with the most unimportant things.
DeleteThe article says there are over 100 objections. So the name is not their only problem.
DeleteAnyone have an idea when flights to Italy might resume from BEG to Italy.
ReplyDeleteProbably not in March as JU plans now.
DeleteWhen Italy eases its entry restrictions.
DeleteThat might take a while...
DeleteSo much for market taking the care of itself in Montenegro.
ReplyDeleteWhat you talking about? Alitalia is not flying to yugo because of restructuring not because of market conditions.
DeleteWizz Air flies Milan and Ryanair Bologna. So that's fine. One of them can start Rome.
Delete@09.26 well this is the market taking care of itself (negatively)
DeleteOnly goes to show how distorted the market was by YM.
Delete@11.24 or to be more precisely: all of exyu market is distorted by our pumped-with-state-cash flag carriers
DeleteDid you think airlines would line up to operate at TGD the day after YM went bust?
DeleteHow did you come up with this brilliant conclusion?
DeleteI would have expected Alitalia would take the opportunity to secure a monopoly on the route now that YM is gone.
DeleteThey clearly have bigger fish to fry at the moment
DeleteExactly. I'm sure Podgorica route isn't their most pressing concern.
DeleteThat will be a very small network.
ReplyDeleteBetter then nothing
Deleteyou probably mean, better thAn nothing
DeleteAir Serbia will profit from this. It will help fill up their planes.
ReplyDeleteBut Air Serbia isn't even flying to Italy and it's questionable when it will be able to.
Delete:(
ReplyDeleteShame. Despite their brand being in tatters, Alitalia isn't a bad airline at all. They are a great alternative to JU on the FCO route. Their prices are good are competitive, they don't charge for luggage and they have some sort of service on board even on short haul flights.
ReplyDeleteAlitalia has branded fares/fare families (i.e. Light, Classic and Flex). Light fare does not include check in luggage.
DeleteBut I agree, all in all decent service. At least that's my experience with them.
"Their prices are good are competitive, they don't charge for luggage and they have some sort of service on board even on short haul flights."
DeleteEasy to have low prices and don't charge for things when they are losing hundreds of million of EUR a year.
Have you flown on AZ?! They use the old thick seats which are horrible with minimal legroom. JU has great space now that they have thin seats. I prefer them to AZ, not to mention the better schedule.
DeleteFor the schedule, I really don't know, if you say so, JU probably has more convenient one. For the legroom, it's really not big deal on one or two hours flight. But there is definitely something, some kind of "charm" Alitalia always had, and probably will always have, which makes it one of my favourite airlines.
DeleteAnyone know what the loads were like for:
ReplyDeleteBEG-FCO (JU)
INI-FCO (JU)
TGD-FCO (YM)
ZAG-SPU-FCO (OU)
Which equipment did Alitalia use to BEG and TGD?
ReplyDeleteBEG A320
DeletePodgorica was operated by Alitalia CityLiner.
DeleteSo that's E175/E190.
DeleteGood. Thanks!
DeleteI hope they resume both on MAR 29.
ReplyDeleteNot happening
DeleteOut of curiosity, how many frequencies for Alitalia have to BEG and TGD during the winter?
ReplyDeleteBelgrade was daily.
DeleteI believe TGD was 3x weekly.
DeleteSad. Before corona happened they said they may launch flights to Zagreb and Pristina.
ReplyDeleteThey announced that over 5 years ago. It wouldn't have happened with or without corona.
DeleteIt is odd they never brought a number of route they suspended in 2009 back. Especially since these were high frequency routes.
DeleteThis new company is another dead man walking
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteWe will be reading about the Italian government bailing out in 2-3 years.
DeleteProbably even sooner....
DeleteIt all depends on their strategy. Alitalia ignores literally everything that would work in favour for them. Rome and Milan are major tourist and economic destinations. Both are very large cities and beyond them there's a great domestic market. Moreover, it's in the middle of the Mediterranean, so it's ideal as a hub for connections to and from Africa and Southern Europe. Alitalia is member of SkyTeam and used to be part of the very successful joint-venture with DL, KL and AF, but it still fails to integrate into the SkyTeam network. All the elements are there to make FCO a massive hub and Alitalia a major airline. And they just can't make it work. FCO isn't even in the top 10 of largest European airports pre-pandemic. Since it was already the 5th airline carrying the Alitalia name, I don't have much hope that the Italians have learned a lesson this time. But if they do adopt a good strategy and use the favourable circumstances, they can finally develop a healthy airline.
DeleteHonestly, I don't see how this year will go for aviation. Today there are 6 departures from BEG. It will be hard for the new AZ.
ReplyDeleteThat's because Tuesday is the slowest day at BEG. yesterday there were over 30 departures.
DeleteIgnore the Tuesday Guy.
DeleteThis discussion comes up every Tuesday :D
DeleteCan't believe Alitalia only flew to Belgrade and Podgorica in ex-Yu. I think years ago they had a much more substantial network.
ReplyDeleteThey used to fly to Skopje and Zagreb in the past. Not sure if there were other cities too.
DeleteAlitalia flew to Zagreb until late 2008, they sacked Zagreb flights cause of recession in early 2009 and as Alitalia was facing major financial difficulties at the time.
DeleteAlitalia flew MXP-SKP daily
Delete@10.14. Yes they flew twice daily to ZAG. Crazy OU did not see the opportunity to replace them.
DeleteYes but this was to/from Milan, not Rome.
Delete@10.15. They did
DeleteSKP - MXP was served by Alitalia Express with ER4 until suspension of ex-YU routes(apart from BEG and TGD). Always full loads, back then no competition from Skopje to Milan, FCO used to be served by MAT Macedonian Airlines.
SKP-MXP was moved to SKP-FCO when they exited the two hubs strategy
DeleteThey go to TIA 3 times a day
DeleteWell, they used to, not since Covid
DeleteDo they fly to TIA at the moment?
DeleteThey do, 5x weekly atm
DeleteAlitelia would be great addition to SJJ. Every time I flew there the plane was full of pilgrims to Medjugorje. Considering that fact, it might even work for them. They should also see some transfer passengers from North America if the flights are decently coordinated.
ReplyDeleteI doubt we will see Alitalia or its reincarnation in Sarajevo ever.
DeleteTrue unfortunately :(
DeleteNot a great loss.
ReplyDeleteThey had good connections to North Africa and South America.
DeleteThey had good connections but would often loose your luggage.
DeleteMaybe 15 years ago. They really improved the last few years.
DeleteTheir service levels really improved when Eithad took over and seemed to stay that way even after they elft.
DeleteBummer. If they cannot make transfer connections from the Balkans then where could they ...
ReplyDelete+1
DeleteMany airlines won't return in 2021. Not just Alitalia.
ReplyDeleteExactly. Things won't get any better any time soon.
DeleteAS served Rome from Niš too.
ReplyDeleteReally hope we will see Alitalia back in some form.
ReplyDeleteWell according to their plan, we will see them back in ex-Yu in 2022.
DeleteGood at least that they plan to come back to BEG.
ReplyDeleteDid anyone notice that they placed Moscow all the way in the Urals on the map?
ReplyDeleteTells you something about Alitalia.
DeleteNo wonder they don't plan to go back there soon.
DeleteAnd Algiers in the middle of the desert
DeleteThey placed Algiers deep down in Sahara as well :) It's just part of their charm and easygoing mentality :)
ReplyDeleteThe only other connection from Belgrade to Etihad network was with Alitalia via Rome and now that's gone too, this year at least. Not sure why they can't make connection with Airserbia flights through ATH, IST, ZRH, FCO...
ReplyDeleteEtihad doesn't even display that connection via FCO anymore. Even though Alitalia is still selling tickets for BEG-FCO.
DeleteAlitalia should really stop then selling tickets to so many routes they do not plan to serve this year.
ReplyDeleteIt's a great way to generate cashflow and then offer vouchers in return for cancelled flights. All the airlines are doing it.
DeleteTell it to wizz 😂 i Alitalia will come back on track, very nice company and employees
DeleteCan't agree more. Every time I fly Austrian or Lufthansa I feel like in concentration camp. With Alitalia, I feel like seating on the sunny terrace, looking the sea and eating ice-cream
DeleteHope they don't remove that classic livery. The name is iconic too. Would be a shame to rename it.
ReplyDeleteThe EU will probably knock back this plan. But I do wonder what does that mean for their ex-Yu routes.
ReplyDeleteHopefully they will...if they have even the slightest piece of self respect for their State Aid directorate. If they don't, then the AZ soap opera will continue and not serve much in the way of the interests of the Western Balkan states which need affordable connections to Italy first and foremost.
Delete10 years or so they did not and now they will? I doubt 😆
Delete