Alitalia was once a flagship of Italy.
Even the Pope flew regularly with the airline.
But now the airline is facing the end.
Rome - Alitalia airline was considered the national symbol of Italy.
For years she was unable to free herself from her economic crisis.
Now she is taking off for the last time - and her employees are heading for an uncertain future.
The last Alitalia flight from Sardinia to Rome is scheduled for late Thursday evening (October 14th).
According to the plan, the machine
from Cagliari is expected at 11.10 p.m. at the capital's airport Rome-Fiumicino, an Alitalia spokesman said when asked.
With the last flight, the line goes out of service - and that ends a chapter in Italian aviation history.
Alitalia went bankrupt in 2017
The new state airline Italia Trasporto Aereo (Ita) will then take off on Friday.
It is considered to be Alitalia's successor, but according to the EU Commission it is not its “economic successor”.
Brussels wants Ita to break with the troubled Alitalia past.
After 2002, the traditional airline no longer made a profit.
Attempts to get the company back on its feet failed.
In 2017 the airline had to file for bankruptcy and the Italian state took over.
Rome granted bridging aid amounting to around 900 million euros - from the point of view of the competition authorities in Brussels, however, this was illegal.
During the corona pandemic, Alitalia was then dependent on further millions in aid to keep operations going.
Alitalia successor Italia is planning with fewer staff
The situation around the end of Alitalias and the planned start of the successor Ita repeatedly caused resentment and anger among the more than 10,000 employees.
The new company plans to start up with fewer staff, around 2,800 employees and initially 52 machines.
According to this, 7,200 employees could no longer be employed there.
The result was protests and many canceled flights to the end.
With the end, the Alitalia brand will also be sold.
The price for the corresponding rights should be 290 million euros.
However, there have not yet been any offers for this.
Pope Francis spoke about the end of Alitalia
The airline's 74-year-old era ends with the last flight.
According to the company, the first Alitalia aircraft took off on May 5, 1947 for flight on the Turin-Rome-Catania route.
The popes also flew with the airline.
On his recent trip to Budapest, Pope Francis mentioned the end of Alitalia in his address to journalists.
Italy's Prime Minister Mario Draghi said in April that he saw Alitalia as a kind of family, "a somewhat expensive family, but still a family".
(dpa / ph)
List of rubric lists: © epa ansa Alessandro Di Meo / picture alliance / dpa