Alitalia
Alitalia - Linee Aeree Italiane is the national Italian airline company, part of the Alitalia Group.
History
Alitalia was founded in 1947, in which year it carried over 10,000 passengers. The inaugural flight, made by the very first plane in the fleet was a Fiat G-12 Alcione, piloted by Virginio Reinero between Turin and Rome. Their first international flight left a year later, travelling between Milan and various cities in South America.
By the 1990s, Alitalia was carrying nearly 25 million passengers yearly. Today, Alitalia operates out of two hubs in Italy, at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa airports, serving 200 destinations in 24 countries worldwide.
Currently (September, 2004) the airline is serious financial difficulty, with management saying it doesn't have enough cash to pay worker salaries past the end of the month. Talks are now going on with unions for pay cuts and layoffs in an attempt to keep the company out of bankruptcy and possibly liquidation.
Other facts of interest
- The Alitalia fleet comprises 181 aircrafts, a mixture of Boeings, Airbus and McDonnell Douglas planes, plus a few ATR turboprop aircrafts for small flights.
- To date, six Alitalia flights have been hijacked (see ).
- To date, only one aircraft incident has been reported involving Alitalia planes (see ).
- Alitalia operates three main hubs. They are: Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport in Fiumicino, Italy, Malpensa International Airport in Milan, Italy, and Linate Airport in Milan, Italy.
- Pope John Paul II charters Alitalia jets on most of his international flights.
IATA Code
Alitalia uses the IATA designator code AZ.
ICAO Code
Alitalia uses the ICAO designator code AZA.
