Alitalia relaunched as protests cause delays and cancellations

A revamped Alitalia was re-launched on Tuesday amid protests causing the delay and cancellations of some flights.

Protests were directed at a deal that had been signed on Monday with Air France-KLM.

In comments aimed at reassuring passengers, the new chief of the Italian carrier, Roberto Colaninno, noted that the protests were likely to be last that Alitalia will see.

The protests caused disruptions at Milan’s two airports, in particular, where it is expected that some of Alitalia’s employees will lose their jobs as the new carrier focuses its operations on Rome’s Fiumicino airport.

By late morning on Tuesday, approximately 10 flights were cancelled at Milan’s Linate airport, and over a dozen were delayed by an hour or more at Milan’s Malpensa airport.

On Monday, Alitalia approved the purchase of a 25 per cent stake in the airline by Air France-KLM for a total of 323 million euros, which is being heralded as the final step in the turnaround of the troubled carrier.

A consortium of Italian businessmen bought Alitalia’s prime assets in December as part of a rescue plan that was sponsored by the Italian government. Those assets were then merged with Air One, a smaller, rival Italian airline.

The new carrier’s first flight did leave on schedule, however, departing Malpensa at 6:10am, for Sao Paolo, Brazil. This flight was a special service that had originally been scheduled for 11:50pm on Monday, but was rescheduled to allow for the transition from the old airline to the newly-launched one.

www.alitalia.com