Alitalia has insisted that it is on track to make a profit by 2017 thanks to its three-year turn around plan as it revealed new customer initiatives
Chairman of Alitalia Luca Cordero di Montezemolo and vice chairman and president and chief executive of Etihad Airways, James Hogan, said the new product includes two new routes, one from Rome to Santiago in Chile in May next year and a second to Mexico City in June.
The two new services will mean the airline will have five to Latin America and 10 in total to both the north and south continents.
Medium and long-haul cabins will get an upgrade while internet services will be extended from the long-haul fleet to the rest of it.
Expansion of the long-haul fleets is also under consideration with next year’s long-haul capacity set to be 20% compared to 2014.
Other improvements include a new chauffeur service for business class passengers on certain routes while new and refurbished lounges will be seen in a number of airports, including Rome and New York JFK.
A new alitalia.com website will be introduced in November while advertising campaigns in Italy and other major countries to which it operates will be launched.
Cordero di Montezemolo said "Our performance is in line with the business plan. And, for the first time since 2009, the load factor for the quarter exceeded 80% and we are on track to meet our objective of reaching profitability by 2017.
“We are announcing today two new destinations in Latin America, new services for business customers, significant investment in ground services at Fiumicino airport and an aggressive program to improve the medium-haul fleet.
“These will be introduced shortly and will help to transform the travel experience for customers flying with Alitalia."
Hogan added: "Together we have come a long way. Alitalia is ascending but it still has challenges and to maintain momentum we need to accelerate cultural and operational change at every level within the company.
"Being part of Etihad Airways Partners will help Alitalia succeed in its drive to profitability and with market confidence growing, its customers will have much to look forward to and experience in the next six months and beyond."
While Alitalia could finally find itself back in black, it would be interesting to know just how many changes have been driven by Etihad’s influence