The handover between Alitalia and Italy Air Transport is expected between 24 and 25 August. Subject to further hitches. In the late evening, Alitalia will remove from the sales systems all its flights scheduled after October 14, in the night between August 25 and 26, the routes of the new public airline will be loaded on the same platforms, which should take off with its first planes on October 15. . ITA tickets should thus be available for purchase on the website www.itaspa.com, in travel agencies and at the airport officially from 26 August, although this should be possible as early as the evening of 25 on the online front.
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The passage
The organizational machine has already started. And the operation does not appear to be easy also because it involves the elimination of AZ-labeled routes and their replacement with other connections always indicated with AZ. In any case, the required timetable: first Alitalia removes its routes from the various platforms starting from the evening of 24 August, then ITA will be able to load its connections which will take off if all goes well from 15 October.
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Messages to customers
Between one operation and the next, tens of thousands of e-mails and cancellation messages will be sent to travelers who have purchased flight tickets from Alitalia when the carrier is no longer expected to operate. According to what the ministerial sources have leaked, passengers should be given two options: one plans to bring Alitalia’s flight to a date by 14 October, the other option is to ask for a full refund. This was later confirmed by a note from the airline. It is not yet clear whether customers will be able to resort to re-routing on flights operated by another airline, a possibility that would currently be ruled out.
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The ticket decree
As is known for these passengers – there are about 257 thousand reservations – the government has made available a fund of 100 million euros that should be used for reimbursements and re-routing on other companies. The Ministry of Economic Development – owner of the Alitalia dossier – is working on a ticket decree that could see the light at the beginning of September. It will contain all travel options.
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The note from Alitalia
Alitalia informs that from midnight today it will no longer sell tickets for flights from October 15th, it is written in the afternoon note. At the same time, I will send a prompt and direct communication, by e-mail, to customers who have purchased flights departing from 15 October. The note includes instructions for handling tickets. In order to ensure full consumer protection, it will be possible to replace the flight with another equivalent managed by the company by 14 October, otherwise it will be possible to receive a full refund of the ticket. The communication campaign responds to the company’s will to manage the situation in a clear and transparent way, protecting the consumer.
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The binding offer
On the industrial front, the note from ITA explains that in the board of directors on August 24, the newco decided to transform the offer sent on August 16 to Alitalia for the acquisition of the Aviation branch (52 aircraft, slots, contracts and other assets into binding ). From 26 August – the new airline continues – a campaign for the collection of candidates for recruitment will also start, while by September ITA intends to communicate the composition of the future fleet. At the same time, the planning of a new and innovative loyalty program is progressing, since the newco cannot buy the MilleMiglia from Alitalia as requested by the European Commission.
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Comments
An indispensable condition and our first priority is to complete the negotiations with Alitalia for the sale of the Aviation perimeter as quickly as possible, explains the president of ITA Alfredo Altavilla in the note. We trust in a constructive interaction with the trade unions to equip ITA with a new, innovative employment contract capable of ensuring structural competitiveness to the company with its competitors. Now we have before us new and complex objectives to achieve – adds the managing director-general manager Fabio Lazzerini – in view of the operational launch on October 15 and numerous projects to be completed in order to create an efficient, sustainable, digital airline, in able to face future challenges with flexibility and in full discontinuity with the past.
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