My previous post on Alitalia merely nominated the airline as the worst airline ever, but after the events of the last few days, I think we can now make it official. Alitalia is the worst airline ever.
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, the airline continues to plunge further and further into the abyss. The latest? Try sabotage.
This Times article notes that two Alitalia MD-80 aircraft were found to have been sabotaged while in the maintenance hangar. One of the planes had cables cut in the tail section while the other had a door seal removed. Fortunately, both of these problems were found before the planes had a chance to carry passengers, but it could have been horrible.
So who did it and why? Well, the investigations are ongoing, and we’ll leave it at that, but you can probably draw your own conclusions. In fact, many investigations are ongoing with these guys. The EU is investigating whether the Italian government’s 1.2 billion euro plan to “recapitalize” the airline is actually just illegal state aid (um, yes). Also, Alitalia is investigating what they can sell to help raise money.
How do the unions respond? Well, by striking of course. They continue to strike or walkout on what seems to be a very regular basis. In fact, you can usually keep up to date in the news section of their website.
What’s next for these guys? Well, nobody knows. They expect to lose a mind boggling 300 million euros this year, but the Italian government just won’t let them die a peaceful death. Nope, they’ll continue to limp along for a long time unless the government finally comes to the realization that this is not an airline worth saving.
