Quote:
Originally Posted by Horizon CRJ700
Alitalia has one of the most recognizeable liveries, but, as so many airlines are now realizing, of you are going to charge high prices, you must have a good product, good customer service, clean planes, and the planes must land and take off when they are scheduled to do so. Basic principles that seem beyond most airlines today.
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AF/KL's offer stated that the brand & the livery should not have disappeared following acquisition. As the economical offer was next to nothing
, this implicitly indicated that the name and the colors of Alitalia are indeed a tangible asset.
The major problem of Alitalia, as you say using different terms, was its inability to face competition. As a state-owned enterprise, Alitalia enjoyed complete monopoly in Italy and was probably considered a sort of goose laying the golden egg. But when the borders of EU opened up and such condition could not be mainitained, no substantial steps were taken to adapt the company to the new environment. The explosion of low-cost carriers and the increasing oil prices are now giving the final blow.
IMHO, the only solution would be a shut-down and re-boot on the wake of what happened for Swissair and Sabena several years ago. But who might politically and socially handle the closure of the largest private employer in Rome, leaving thousands of families on the street????