Added: 06/29/2005 |
Alitalia - The Airline RenaissanceItaly is a country of sunny weather and extreme passions. But a person, who is not familiar with Italy itself, knows a little about it. Italy is the cradle of Renaissance and homeland for famous artists -Leonardo da Vinci, Rafael, Donatello and Michelangelo. This article tells you about another Italy's piece - Alitalia.
The Alitalia is the airline based in Rome. Its main operate airports are Leonardo da Vinci International airport in Rome and Malpensa International Airport in Milan, both in Italy. Alitalia used to be the usual airline of Pope John Paul II, and there is no any specific reason to change this in relation with Benedict XVI.
The history of Alitalia could be a history of every airline. It began in 1947 with 10,000 passengers carried in its first year, and the first intercontinental route to South Africa in the second one.
In 1990s it performed flights to near 200 points of destinations, situated in over 20 countries. However, with the beginning of new century, Alitalia faced serious financial troubles. In the end of 2003 it had to merge with Air France and KLM and next year it didn't earn enough money to pay salary to its employees. The possible liquidation of airline was also discussed, but Alitalia successfully avoided this.
In September 2004 company got a 400 million Euros bridging loan from the Italian government, which finally saved the company from declaring the status of bankruptcy.
Today Alitalia operates near 150 aircrafts. Half of it is a fleet of McDonnell Douglas MD-82s with few MD-11 models. The rest are Airbus A319, A321 and A321 and Boeing 767s and 777s. All these planes are well-maintained and kept in good condition to prevent any accident during the flight and support the high level of flight safety. It also has an amount of ATR 72, Embraer ERJ-145 and Embraer ERJ-170 aircrafts, which are used by Alitalia's subsidiaries in general. Soon the addition is expected including Boeing 767s and 777s and EMB-170s for subsidiary airlines of Alitalia too. It will be launched till 2008.
Service of Alitalia is also worthy of notice. The friendly crew will meet you with smiles and attention to your needs. A great choice of meals, snacks and beverages will be offered to you, supported by in-flight entertainment system provided with video films, music, video games and amenity kits. As a nice addition, coffee and juice are served during the flight to keep you refreshed.
Despite wide-spread rumors, Alitalia flights are punctual and clean. An additional comfort features could be received with Skyteam Alliance miles. So if you are a regular customer of Air France, Northwest Airlines or Delta Airlines, you can use Alitalia service without a doubt.
Despite financial difficulties, Alitalia provides its service with love to job and attention to customers. Also it provides foreign passengers with specific Italian atmosphere, warm as sunny vacation day at Rome cafeteria in summer time. So if you wish to get new experience and don't want to miss another possibility to earn some SkyTeam miles the same time - perhaps, Alitalia could be your choice.
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