© Reuters
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The Italian airline Alitalia announced today that it will terminate all its flights from October 15 because it ceases to exist. Those who buy tickets for flights after this date are given the opportunity to exchange them for earlier ones or get their money back.
Calculations by the Corriera della Sera newspaper show that about 250,000 people are affected, Euronews reports.
The carrier will be succeeded by a new company, the state-owned ITA (Italia Trasporto Aereo), which will start selling tickets on Thursday, August 26, and will operate flights from October 15. 52 Alitalia aircraft, its airport slots and other assets are transferred to ITA. The plans are to increase its fleet to 105 aircraft by 2025 and to fly from Rome and Milan to places such as New York, Boston, Miami, Tokyo and a number of European cities.
But reserved and purchased tickets for Alitalia do not apply to ITA, which does not yet have a working website for selling its own tickets.
What if I have already booked tickets with Alitalia?
The options for passengers are a little complicated, but it does seem that you will be able to fly, or get a refund.
It’s important to note that you’ll have the most options available if you bought your Alitalia flights before August 24 2021, with a ticket number that starts with “055”. This is the first thing to check.
The good news is that the airline is getting government support- and this will be passed on to passengers. The Italian government has created a €100 million fund to reimburse customers of the airline. It comes after the country agreed a bailout deal with the EU to create a new debt-free company that would take over its assets.
Alitalia says it will contact each of its customers directly with instructions on how to proceed. Ticket exchange is free and valid only for the same destination before October 15. It is also possible to change the destination of a ticket or fly to the same place, but with a connection to different airports. However, this costs additional costs, and if the new route is cheaper, there is no compensation. Nor can they change internationally with national flights and vice versa.
Italy has been trying for years to save the bankrupt airline and in 2017 put it under the control of the country’s trustees. In 2019 – the year before the pandemic – it carried 21.3 million passengers and until recently had more than 10,000 employees. But several waves of coronavirus have hit the aviation business hard, and it is unclear today what will happen to all of the airline’s employees.
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