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The power of a brand is difficult to quantify in any business, and every company deciding to undergo a rebranding exercise does it with a good dose of circumspection and fear. When the Italian flag carrier Alitalia decided to “retire” its brand in October 2021 as part of the salvage/takeover operation by Lufthansa there wasn’t much of a choice. Ope...

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About two dozen men and women in their seventies and eighties, all welling with emotion, ascended the stage one after the other. Some struggled to walk and were assisted by young family members. These were the Alitalia employees who once worked at the airline’s Tripoli office in Libya, and their families. At the ceremony, which was sponsored by the...

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Italy witnessed the start of a new chapter in history this week following the first flight of ITA Airways. This event was the latest in a series of twists and turns that the country’s air travel market has gone through over the last century. With this latest move, let’s take a brief look at the history of Italian aviation. Slow start Unlike several...

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Over a decade ago, when Francesco Galietti had to travel from his native Rome to Milan for work, he used to fly the nearly 400-mile route. Today, he takes the train. Galietti -- CEO of Rome-based political risk consultancy Policy Sonar -- is not alone. Figures released in 2019 by Italy state railway company Ferrovie dello Stato show that the number...

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They've long dominated the food and fashion worlds, this year they've dominated sports, and now they're aiming for the skies. Italy's new national airline, ITA Airways, launched on Friday with a promise to bring pride back to its national flag carrier, after Alitalia, Italy's legacy airline, went bankrupt and ceased operations a day earlier. Execut...

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Italy's new national airline ITA takes to the skies on Friday 15 October after Alitalia made its final voyage last night, with a flight from Rome to Cagliari. ITA, whose full name is Italia Trasporto Aereo, replaces Alitalia which ceased operating yesterday after 74 years. On the eve of its launch, however, ITA bought the Alitalia brand and naming...

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Alitalia will take its last flight this evening before passing the baton to Italy's new national airline, ITA, which begins operations on Friday. The final flight, from Rome to Cagliari, brings to an end a colourful 74-year history between Italy and the troubled flag carrier. It is a sad, bitter day for Alitalia employees, most of whom will not be...

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In the '90s the New York Times noted how Alitalia was mostly renown for its "trendy aircraft interiors and flight attendant uniforms by designers like Giorgio Armani, rather than for service or punctuality". An analysis that, although cynical, accurately depicted how the Italian flag carrier airline, from the end of the Second World War up to its...

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If you’ve visited Italy at some point in the last 75 years, and if you arrived in ‘il Bel Paese’ by air, chances are you’ve traveled with Alitalia, which has been the official Italian national airline since 1947. And, if you’re like co-hosts Rossella, John, and Pat, you’ve got countless memories of returning to the Motherland “Italian Style” aboard...

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Ciao ciao, Alitalia. Italy's storied flag carrier has announced it will no longer issue tickets, triggering a countdown of just a few weeks until its familiar red and green livery vanishes from our skies for good. The nationally owned airline is to be replaced in October by ITA, a smaller company with a different logo, but the service which once ca...

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