ROME, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- ITA, the new airline set to emerge from the near-collapse of Italy's flag carrier Alitalia, is still undecided about whether to operate direct flights to China, Alitalia Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Fabio Lazzerini has said.
Lazzerini, appointed as the CEO to transform Alitalia into ITA, was quoted by multiple Italian news sites on Monday as discussing the plans for ITA, which is an acronym for Italia Trasporto Aereo (Italian Air Transport) as well as a common abbreviation for Italy, the airline's home base. The Alitalia press office confirmed Lazzerini's comments were accurate when contacted by Xinhua.
The new airline will have a new logo, will employ about 6,500 people, will have a fleet of nearly 100 aircraft and will have a financial endowment of around three billion euros (3.5 billion U.S. dollars) once it starts operations. The transformation is expected to be completed by early 2021, media reports said.
According to Italy's Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri, who spoke about the relaunch last week, the Italian government will equip ITA with the managers and resources necessary to make the new company "competitive on the European and international markets." Also last week, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Paola De Micheli, who signed the decree creating ITA, said that "a national airline is born, and it will play a leading role."
The plan to revamp and rename Alitalia came after years of financial struggles for the airline, which was in danger of going bankrupt last year.
In addition to Lazzerini, the new company will be led by Chairman Francesco Caio, an experienced international executive, and seven other appointed directors from diverse backgrounds.
Speaking about the routes the new company will operate, Lazzerini said that flights to north and south America "will be maintained," but the board "is still thinking about most of Asia, including China." He also said routes to Japan would be continued.
He said the new company was also mulling over the question of alliances, which Lazzerini called "a fundamental part of the industrial plan." Alitalia is part of the SkyTeam alliance. But news reports have speculated that the new airline could withdraw from SkyTeam and join another major global air alliance if that proved to be a better fit.
The company will continue as Alitalia until the new company is ready to start operations. But according to the Corriere della Sera newspaper, Alitalia is burning through cash at the rate of 1.8 million euros (2.1 million U.S. dollars) per day, though the company has reportedly reduced expenses in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019.
Italy's parliament must give its stamp of approval to the plan, which will see the Italian state hold a stake in the new company until its economic situation improves enough for it to be completely privatized. Enditem
