Delta or United. Who will Ita ally with?
According to Il Sole 24 Ore, the leaders of the new Ita company are negotiating strategic partnerships with Delta Air Lines, which already has a commercial agreement with Alitalia and is linked to Air France-KLM, and with United Airlines. Meanwhile, the union turmoil continues
“Ita must leave on October 15th for the simple reason that Alitalia no longer flies from October 15th, so there are no doubts, alternatives, excuses. Everything must be done to leave on October 15th ".
This was reiterated by the president of Ita, Alfredo Altavilla, on the sidelines of the hearing in the Chamber's Transport Committee, which took place behind closed doors.
A meeting yesterday marked by tension, not only between the leaders of the newco and the unions, but also with members of the majority.
"He was criticized by Pd, M5S, Leu, after the decision to hire staff without a collective agreement, for not wanting to publicize the hearing in the Transport and Labor committees of the Chamber" revealed Il Sole 24 Ore .
The president of the new company has in fact attacked the call for commissioners launched last week to win the Alitalia brand (290 million bidding base).
“We were surprised, the value is unrealistic”, Altavilla expressed his doubts about the evaluation, considered too high.
"The managers of Ita asked for confidentiality, saying that they mentioned the names of companies with which there are negotiations". the Confindustria newspaper reported: “It appears to the Sun that the names of two American companies with which Ita is negotiating for strategic alliances have been mentioned. One is Delta Air Lines, which already has a commercial agreement with Alitalia and is linked to Air France-KLM, the other is United Airlines, Lufthansa's partner in the Star Alliance ”.
In the meantime, the tug-of-war between the newco and the unions for the future of Alitalia's employees continues. The meetings of Alitalia workers continue in Fiumicino today, Wednesday 21 September, from 10 to 18, after the breakdown of the last few hours of the negotiations with Ita on the contract to be applied to the employees of the new company.
Finally, it is expected October 5 when the Senate Chamber will be convened for a briefing by the Minister of the Economy Daniele Franco on the strategy and industrial plan of Ita.
All the details.
LITIGATES ABOUT THE SALE OF THE ALITALIA BRAND
"If a company has generated 3.5 billion in operating losses in 11 years, it seems to me an unrealistic assessment," Altavilla underlined on the sidelines of the hearing. The manager announced that the Ita board of directors is convened for Friday 24 September to decide whether to participate in the tender for the sale of the brand.
Meanwhile, the Alitalia Extraordinary Commissioners in a note reply that the base value for the auction on the Alitalia brand "is the result of an appraisal obtained by a third-party professional and required by law and carried out by a third-party professional appointed by the procedure, after consulting in favor of the Supervisory Committee ".
ITA ROUTE TO DELTA AND UNITED
In view of October 15, the new Ita company would be moving on two fronts.
As reported by the Sole 24 Ore , in fact, the top management of the newco would be negotiating strategic partnerships with Delta Air Lines, which already has a commercial agreement with Alitalia and is linked to Air France-KLM, and with United Airlines, a partner of Lufthansa in the Star Alliance.
EASYJET WILL NOT ATTEND
EasyJet will not participate in the tender for the Alitalia brand. “At the Airbus Summit in Toulouse (another report on the side), Il Sole 24 Ore asked the low cost CEO, Johan Lundgren, if he intends to participate in the tender for the brand. Lundgren laughed: "We are very proud of our brand." And he pointed out: «We have no plans to buy the Alitalia brand» ”.
WHEN DELTA WANTED TO ENTER THE NEWCO OF ALITALIA WITH EASYJET
A legitimate question since only 2 years ago Delta Airline and easyJet negotiated with Alitalia for the newco .
In fact, we recall that Delta's initial project was to enter the newco together with Air France-KLM (with 20% each). The project faded in early 2019 after the Franco-Dutch paraded in the wake of tensions between Italy and France. Hence the choice to involve the English low cost which in the previous months had always confirmed its interest.
The Americans' intention was to join the newco with 20%, flanked by easyJet with another 20%. "Alitalia – Delta had declared at the time – is a long-time partner of Delta, with which it is part of our transatlantic joint venture with Air France and KLM".
Of those projects, the interest of the American Delta remains today, while the English low cost has completely disappeared.
It remains to be known with which American company the new flag carrier between Delta and United will ally.
TRAMBUSTI TRADE UNION
Finally, the workers and hiring node, with Ita confirming that it wants to go ahead with the company regulations.
As regards the recruitments that started on Monday in Ita, Altavilla assured that "they were made on the basis of curriculum vitae, merit and experience".
But the representatives of Alitalia workers have made it known that the contract has been completely broken with the top management of Ita.
Yesterday, in the meantime, after the tear, they try to mend. "Despite the application of the company regulations, we have committed in writing to continue to keep the trade unions and professional associations informed of the progress of the operations and of the company because we firmly believe that in the continuation of Ita's activity there must be an opportunity to get back to the table and try to overcome the decisions taken yesterday ”, President Altavilla assured on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the hearing at the Transport Commission of the Chamber.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/smartcity/delta-o-united-con-chi-si-alleera-ita/ on Wed, 22 Sep 2021 12:10:34 +0000.