Alitalia saved in extremis by Delta Air Lines ?

Everything will have been done to keep Alitalia out of the drowning. Ethiad is now an old story. Delta Airlines, in particular, will be part of the capital of a new company. The Italian airline could definitely be included in the « Guiness of Records » for the number of rescues… As Nietzsche wrote: « when you look long into the abyss, the abyss looks at you« . But for now, we’ll keep looking at Alitalia’s planes in the sky.

A new company Alitalia next July

The board of directors who had been managing the company since Etihad’s departure in 2017 will announce the creation of a new company whose capital will be mainly public.

The state will retain a majority share, notably via « Ferrovie dello Stato » (the Italian railways) (30%) and the Italian state (15%). Delta Air lines should take at least 10%. There are some uncertainties for the other contenders.

Delta Airlines wants to keep Alitalia in Skyteam

The American airline is concerned not to lose the intercontinental links of the SkyTeam alliance. Delta will therefore be one of the reference shareholders.
The Air France group, which has already been a shareholder of the Italian airline, would make an indirect return…

The Toto group… in the capital…?

The populist/nationalist government is doing everything it can to save the Italian flag once again. It would have encouraged the Toto group to acquire a stake in the capital.

One can imagine that the government will have surely promised the Toto group to help it obtain motorway concessions and rehabilitate bridges and viaducts in Abruzzo.

It was Luigi Di Maio, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, who pulled himself out of his hat Riccardo Toto (photo opposite), son of Carlo the manufacturer and founder of the Toto group. All this to show that Alitalia will remain an Italian company… for the time of a next election!

We even mention the former CEO of Avianca

Germán Efromovich is the former president of the Colombian company Avianca (photo below). But it is also one of its main shareholders!

He was dismissed from his position last month for failing to pay a loan. He is, according to various sources, very rich! He announced that he wanted to acquire a stake in Alitalia.

Lthe Italian company is the most punctual in Europe

If the finances are not really on track, Alitalia announced last June that it had recorded a 4.5% increase in its revenues on passenger traffic compared to June 2018.

The company was even recently elected as the most punctual air carrier in Europe.

and has excellent results

Alitalia’s revenues from passenger traffic increased in June. During the sixth month of the year, the Italian airline recorded a
a 4.4% increase in passenger revenue compared to the same month of the previous year (the month with the largest increase in revenue in 2018, with a 10.6% increase).

Positive results were also obtained with regard to the number of passengers transported, which, in June 2019, increased by 2.2% compared with the same month of the previous year.

The results are positively influenced by commercial investments in intercontinental destinations. The long-haul sector recorded a record performance last June, with an increase in passenger numbers of 4.7% compared to 2018.
Indeed, 277,617 passengers travelled on Alitalia’s intercontinental routes, a figure not reached since 2009.

These figures also boosted turnover – still linked to long-haul flights – which, with a growth rate of 5.3%, reached €126.16 million: the highest value in the last 10 months (from August 2018) and the best June since the beginning of 2009.

Serge Fabre