Alitalia the Zombie Airline
A bit like some recalcitrant zombie, Alitalia just will not lie down and die. The stuttering saga of Italy’s national airline wobbles on, and does not appear to be coming to an end.
The undead Airline which dear old Berlusconi promised to save from becoming, horror of horrors, foreign,
is still as strike prone as ever it was.
Heaven only knows how much it is costing Italy’s taxpayers to save the corpse of this behemoth.
The Zombie Loan is Not Good
A European Community commission has declared a 300 million Euro bail out loan, cosily organised by Italy’s government, illegal, even if the bods in Europe appear to be in favour of resurrecting Italy’s beleaguered national airline. Although the breathing of new life into the Alitalia zombie conditional upon, according to the EC commission, the sale of assets and the laying down to rest of the old company behind Alitalia.
Is Alitalia Still Alitalia?
Actually, it’s not all that clear why everyone is still calling Alitalia, Alitalia, for in theory the airline died a month or so ago.
Still, like the best zombies in the most dire of B-movies, Alitalia continues to haunt Italy and its population, and cost Italians plenty of money in these belt tightening times of recession.
Alitalia – Strikes and Delays as Usual
Just to remind everyone just how hard it is to silence zombies, Italy’s formerly strike and delay prone national airline, which exists, but doesn’t, went on strike, which of course led to delays. Oddly enough it appears as though people must still be flying with the zombie. Who knows who these mysterious passengers are. Probably diplomats and politicians obliged to fly with the carrier by their political masters.
Even stranger is that Berlusconi won elections with a promise to save Alitalia and ‘keep it Italian’. In so doing good old Berlusco managed to squash take over talks which were making progress. What Berlusco omitted to say was that saving the zombie would cost Italy’s taxpayers rather a lot.
Italian Businesses Suffer the Effects of the Zombie
Italy’s businesses are suffering from the effects of the undead too. Many companies providing services to Alitalia have not been paid. They risk going bankrupt – no government money to bail them out.
Italians Shot in their Feet?
Italy’s suntanned number one may have gone and shot Italians well and truly in their feet by threatening to do all he could for the undead company, in that those who work for the airline know that they can do just about what they like. Read more strikes and delays, because there is no way Berlusconi can be seen to fail in his mission to cost Italy’s taxpayers lots of money, save Italy’s flagship airline.
The man detests admitting he’s in the wrong too, as the incident concerning his recent offhand comment on the colour of Obama‘s skin goes to show.
One thing is pretty certain though, this time the zombies will win the battle.
PS My mum was probably right when she said she thought Berlusconi was a fascist.
Last night and the night before when I was watching the latest shameful excuses being made I wondered when you would have something to say.
As much as I love Italy, any airline would be fortunate to be anything other than Italian. The staff exhibit the worst qualities Italians ever have. Not only did they stage a wildfire strike, but part of it was that some flights took off, then were deliberately flown slowly, do that by the time they were circling the thus burdened airports, they had burned way too much fuel and of course were in possible danger of running out before landing. Would I buy a ticket on an airline where the pilots would deliberately endanger me to make their point?
Resounding NO! And what was their point? That Alitalia cannot run without pilots. True, but they don’t have to be those pilots, because with the folding of so many airlines in recent years there are plenty available.
I watched an interview with a flight attendant recently. She explained that they couldn’t sign the contract that would save her job because she would not take less money. She offered something about babysitting in there, but basically she was saying the Italian taxpayer should be out of pocket every year so that she could maintain her salary unchanged in spite of the fact that the airline had been bankrupt for years.
Should taxpayers who do not fly pay so others who do can? Why? If Alitalia cannot compete she must go away. The tax support of Alitalia has been illegal the whole time while Italy struggles to just make the standards the EU requires for national solvency.
At this point someone needs to have the guts to fire everyone who was involved in that illegal strike. Who has it? Although everyone on the panel I watched, even head of CISL, said it was illegal and shameful and endangered the legal right to strike, no one stepped up and said fire the b£$%&/ds. And that’s what we need.
I guess I had an opinion!
By heck Judith, you do have an opinion!
Alitalia is not exactly the most popular airline in Italy, and it’s staff do seem the be a belligerent bunch too.
But now Berlusco has stuck his oar in, the Alitalia bunch can be as belligerent as they like, and they are being so as your example of the somewhat irresponsible actions of Alitalia pilots show.
It’s a right old Italian mess, and will not go away, just like the best zombies!
All the best,
Alex