The curtain rises on the new Lufthansa-driven ITA Airways: here are the first 5 expected changes
Tomorrow, Monday, February 3, a press conference will be held in Rome at ITA Airways headquarters, speaking will be: [...]
Lufthansa
ITA Airways
Star Alliance
Oneworld
A press conference will be held tomorrow, Monday, Feb. 3, in Rome at the ITA Airways headquarters., speaking will be: Carsten Spohr CEO of Lufthansa, Joerg Eberhart CEO of ITA Airways and Sandro Pappalardo President of ITA Airways.
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This will be the first meeting with the media since the German group is officially a minority partner, but with "master" powers, of the Italian flag carrier. It will be the dawn of the new day for the Italian company and it will also be the first test to see what the first changes will be.While it is true that LH has just arrived, it is also true that for almost 2 years management had been working on this dossier and therefore I definitely expect some major announcements.
As always I am a humble paying traveler, but if this were the press conference of a newly elected mayor here is what I would like to see in the first 100 days.
The return of the Alitalia livery and branding
I don't think a process like that announced last September was done without consulting with the marketing departments of the Lufthansa group. I don't think it will be a total reversal, more likely I expect a well-defined strategy with the historical brand used commercially, as is the case with cruises with Groups having different brands for different markets.
Free Wifi on ITA Airways Flights
One of the certainties on board LH Group flights is the presence of free wi-fi on short/medium-haul flights, at least as far as messaging is concerned, for all passengers. ITA does not offer this service today, or rather it proposes it but it is not really free and unlimited.
While on long-haul flights a change in service pricing, that is, moving away from traffic-based packages to time-based ones.
ITA Airways' return to London Heathrow.
The Italian airline is the only European mayor to stop flying to London's main airport. Pur unfortunately, in the ill-fated failed marriage with Etihad, AZ slots were passed to the Abu Dhabi company and never returned.
Today, therefore, ITA has fallen back on London City, but although more centrally located, it is not the best if it is to grow also because of the passengers that carriers such as United or Air Canada could bring to our country, but also because of the convenience of Italians interested in flying to LHR. LH group has the second largest number of slots held at Heathrow, every week it has 360 takeoffs, I would not be surprised if some of these are turned over to FCO starting next winter season.
A precise timeline for the changes
There will be not a few changes that Italian passengers will have to deal with: from reference hubs to individual airport terminals, partner companies to frequent flyer benefits, and code share agreements with completely different carriers. If there are then also changes related to loyalty programs. I expect an eye to those who, after the Millemiglia disappointments, still put their trust in the Volare program.
What I hope will happen is that there will be credible timelines and not traumatic transitions as in the case of SAS's switch from Star Alliance to Skyteam overnight.
ITA Airways release date from Skyteam
Not the exact date, but definitely the official announcement of the Italian airline's exit from the Skyteam alliance to join Star Alliance. When Air France KLM announced their entry into the share capital of SAS one of the first points had been precisely the change of alliance, later had then been given the details and modalities that, as I have already had a chance to write, In my opinion, they will not be similar in the case of ITA.
In conclusion
Obviously I will be present at the press conference of the new ITA Airways and we will see if there will be only smoke or also roast, less than 24h left we will see.
