ALITALIA agony
ALITALIA agony
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Last week's 3 days strike costed 40 million euros to a company that has 200 million left on its account, the management says that even if the unions accept the restructuring project (200 pilots and 600 flight attendants layied off to start with) the situation would still be critical.
The stock lost 12% in just one day and the government is already considering chapter 11.
The stock lost 12% in just one day and the government is already considering chapter 11.
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Just a bunch of clowns as far as I'm concerned and the sooner they bite the dust the better !
I've had to deal with AZ engineering once and I still wake up in sweat middle of the night thinking about it.
I've had to deal with AZ engineering once and I still wake up in sweat middle of the night thinking about it.
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AZ will NOT go bust.
The Italian government will inject a massive amount of cash into them. There will be loud public protestations from the EEC and the British 'government', that will have no effect whatsoever. Then the whole subject will be forgotten after all the backhanders have been paid.
Been there, done that, seen it all before!
I gather that AZ staff are pi..ed off that they will not get another new uniform this month...thinking of striking about it!!
The Italian government will inject a massive amount of cash into them. There will be loud public protestations from the EEC and the British 'government', that will have no effect whatsoever. Then the whole subject will be forgotten after all the backhanders have been paid.
Been there, done that, seen it all before!
I gather that AZ staff are pi..ed off that they will not get another new uniform this month...thinking of striking about it!!
mostly harmless
In the past, EU carriers have been permitted one final cash injection / investment by government. I don't know if Alitalia has had this yet.
Italian national elections are coming up, so there is going to be considerable pressure to keep things going until the day after.
On that day, there will be a new EU Competition Commissioner, who will need to prove that he/she has big teeth.
Any bets on a face saving SN Brussels / Swiss International type of outcome? ie a much smaller regional carrier.
tarjet fixated. Tell me, is there really a Chapter 11 equivalent in Italian law? If there is, things are better than I thought.
Italian national elections are coming up, so there is going to be considerable pressure to keep things going until the day after.
On that day, there will be a new EU Competition Commissioner, who will need to prove that he/she has big teeth.
Any bets on a face saving SN Brussels / Swiss International type of outcome? ie a much smaller regional carrier.
tarjet fixated. Tell me, is there really a Chapter 11 equivalent in Italian law? If there is, things are better than I thought.
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openfly
where do you get this accurate news?
I think Az will go bust. Govmt has no intention of putting a single € in the airline. They are simply trying to squeeze as much as they can in concessions from the employees, make it bust and reopen it swiss style some time later.
Btw these are the costs of labour, % of turnover, for the mayor european airlines.
AZ 23,8%
AF 28,4%
BA 27.9%
IB29.9%
klm30.0%
LH26.8%.
Cost of labour is not the issue, bad management is. And they never get sacked, them and their political friends.
And for 2004 no new uniforms or shirts until now.
where do you get this accurate news?
I think Az will go bust. Govmt has no intention of putting a single € in the airline. They are simply trying to squeeze as much as they can in concessions from the employees, make it bust and reopen it swiss style some time later.
Btw these are the costs of labour, % of turnover, for the mayor european airlines.
AZ 23,8%
AF 28,4%
BA 27.9%
IB29.9%
klm30.0%
LH26.8%.
Cost of labour is not the issue, bad management is. And they never get sacked, them and their political friends.
And for 2004 no new uniforms or shirts until now.
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How sad. Sorry for cut&paste but the story below has just run on the Reuter screens. Looks to me more like an obituary than a story.
That said, when my ma-and-pa in law flew out to see me and the wife when we lived in Hong Kong their luggage was left in the pouring rain when they had a four hour transit in Rome.
I realise it's the handling agents to blame, but AZ didn't give a toss about 750 quids worth of ruined clothing. My in-laws didn't get a penny.
Alitalia, airline to divas and popes, risks death
ROME, May 5 (Reuters) - When film diva Anita Ekberg arrived in Rome in Federico Fellini's 1960 classic "La Dolce Vita," she landed on an Alitalia DC-6B propeller plane.
When Pope Paul VI became the first pope to fly in a plane in 1964, he flew Alitalia <AZPIa.MI>. Pope John Paul kept up the tradition and an Alitalia plane was always in the background when he kissed tarmacs from Boston to Bangkok.
Alitalia, the airline of popes, divas and immigrants that has been a part of Italy's lifeblood for the past half century, now risks haemorrhaging to death.
Alitalia accompanied Italians through the growing pains of the postwar period, when in the course of a single generation a devastated agricultural backwater became an economic powerhouse that was the envy of the world.
It is difficult to overestimate the significance Alitalia had on the national psyche.
Immigrants who left for America by ship or for Germany by train returned to visit in fuselages flying the national colours to show others -- and often even themselves -- that they had struck success in their adopted countries.
In some countries the Alitalia office was more of a hub for the local Italian community than an embassy or consulate.
But now government ministers are openly talking of possible bankruptcy as years of poor management, political interference and union hostility catch up with the state-controlled airline.
Alitalia was never really run like a company. It was a political football, a place to give friends jobs, a reservoir of votes and favours.
"Alitalia is, above all, a perfect but sad metaphor for the clumsy use of state money," said Ferrucio de Bortoli, a leading Italian newspaper columnist.
"It was only a bedside carpet for those in power, often of the worst kind," he wrote in Wednesday's La Stampa.
Alitalia has made an operating loss each of the last five years and executives have said they may have to cut thousands of jobs to pave the way for a return to profit.
JEERS AND TEARS
Sergio Romano, an editorialist and former ambassador, told Reuters that Italy was getting used to corporate failures.
"I am not going to shed tears for Alitalia but for a political class that could not fix the problem," he said.
"Italians will just have to use other airlines but it is a shame. We already lost a national presence in the chemical and computer sectors," he said, referring to Montedison <ED.MI> and Olivetti, two companies that withered away in the 1990s.
Cesare Romiti, who was managing director of Alitalia 30 years ago before taking a top job at carmaker Fiat <FIA.MI>, spoke of the national pride that would be hurt if the airline was grounded.
"I feel my blood boil when I hear talk of Alitalia going out of business," he said on television. "The state cannot wake up only now that Alitalia is losing 50,000 euros ($60,840) an hour. So I ask myself: how did we get to this point?"
It was a question that many people, from Italy to Little Italys around the world, were also asking.
That said, when my ma-and-pa in law flew out to see me and the wife when we lived in Hong Kong their luggage was left in the pouring rain when they had a four hour transit in Rome.
I realise it's the handling agents to blame, but AZ didn't give a toss about 750 quids worth of ruined clothing. My in-laws didn't get a penny.
Alitalia, airline to divas and popes, risks death
ROME, May 5 (Reuters) - When film diva Anita Ekberg arrived in Rome in Federico Fellini's 1960 classic "La Dolce Vita," she landed on an Alitalia DC-6B propeller plane.
When Pope Paul VI became the first pope to fly in a plane in 1964, he flew Alitalia <AZPIa.MI>. Pope John Paul kept up the tradition and an Alitalia plane was always in the background when he kissed tarmacs from Boston to Bangkok.
Alitalia, the airline of popes, divas and immigrants that has been a part of Italy's lifeblood for the past half century, now risks haemorrhaging to death.
Alitalia accompanied Italians through the growing pains of the postwar period, when in the course of a single generation a devastated agricultural backwater became an economic powerhouse that was the envy of the world.
It is difficult to overestimate the significance Alitalia had on the national psyche.
Immigrants who left for America by ship or for Germany by train returned to visit in fuselages flying the national colours to show others -- and often even themselves -- that they had struck success in their adopted countries.
In some countries the Alitalia office was more of a hub for the local Italian community than an embassy or consulate.
But now government ministers are openly talking of possible bankruptcy as years of poor management, political interference and union hostility catch up with the state-controlled airline.
Alitalia was never really run like a company. It was a political football, a place to give friends jobs, a reservoir of votes and favours.
"Alitalia is, above all, a perfect but sad metaphor for the clumsy use of state money," said Ferrucio de Bortoli, a leading Italian newspaper columnist.
"It was only a bedside carpet for those in power, often of the worst kind," he wrote in Wednesday's La Stampa.
Alitalia has made an operating loss each of the last five years and executives have said they may have to cut thousands of jobs to pave the way for a return to profit.
JEERS AND TEARS
Sergio Romano, an editorialist and former ambassador, told Reuters that Italy was getting used to corporate failures.
"I am not going to shed tears for Alitalia but for a political class that could not fix the problem," he said.
"Italians will just have to use other airlines but it is a shame. We already lost a national presence in the chemical and computer sectors," he said, referring to Montedison <ED.MI> and Olivetti, two companies that withered away in the 1990s.
Cesare Romiti, who was managing director of Alitalia 30 years ago before taking a top job at carmaker Fiat <FIA.MI>, spoke of the national pride that would be hurt if the airline was grounded.
"I feel my blood boil when I hear talk of Alitalia going out of business," he said on television. "The state cannot wake up only now that Alitalia is losing 50,000 euros ($60,840) an hour. So I ask myself: how did we get to this point?"
It was a question that many people, from Italy to Little Italys around the world, were also asking.
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As an italian (thanks god not working for AZ) i am delighted by the whole situation, it's all backfiring at them after all these years of political connections and bad management.
Time to set things straight!
Time to set things straight!
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And it gets even better every hour !!
AZ will be on strike tommorrow just to nail the cofin...........if they can find a nail in this mess. They wouldn't find a bloody turkey on Xmas day.
This is going to end up Swiss style and it ain't pretty.
Ciao Bella
AZ will be on strike tommorrow just to nail the cofin...........if they can find a nail in this mess. They wouldn't find a bloody turkey on Xmas day.
This is going to end up Swiss style and it ain't pretty.
Ciao Bella
