
Following the Alitalia Board of Directors'
acceptance of Air France-KLM's offer to purchase the struggling Italian airline, you may be wondering what the implications for Alitalia Virtual are. First, let's review what's happened at the Italian airline over the last decade and what we offer today.
Alitalia in the late 1990s
had a widespread network with more worldwide destinations than today, using a two-hub intercontinental system centered around Milan Malpensa and Rome (this is part of why KLM dropped its original planned merger with Alitalia). Since then, Alitalia has reduced its longhaul routes and point-to-point domestic routes and added more European routes from Milan and Rome. Today, Milan accounts for most longhaul routes, with flights from Rome to select cities or reduced frequencies.
Air France-KLM's plans to adopt Alitalia's latest route restructuring plan, which involves
making Rome the primary hub for the airline, even though northern Italy is one of the richest regions in Europe. The proposed merger still has numerous hurdles to go through: EU approval, union approval, and government approval. The last of these may be the most difficult, since national elections occur next month, and the leading candidate is not in favor of selling Alitalia to a foreign buyer.
What does all of this mean for Alitalia Virtual? As always, we remain committed to offering the Alitalia brand, regardless of what happens in the real world. Fortunately, one of the conditions of the sale has always been that the brand remain in place. You may also be concerned about the flights offered by the reformed carrier should it be downsized. Rest assured that we will continue to offer all destinations possible, even if that means offering them as Discontinued Flights.
SimAirline.net will continue to include a strong Alitalia Virtual in its operations, no matter what form the airline takes in the real world.