On Thursday evening, Alitalia officially operated the last flight in the company's history on the Cagliari-Rome Fiumicino route. Or not, because the trademark rights and the homepage were sold to Ita for 90 million euros.

Numerous attempts to bring Alitalia into the black were unsuccessful. For example, the carrier was completely rebuilt several times and the “old company” was disposed of in bankruptcy proceedings. But the respective “new company” seamlessly followed up on the loss letter and piled up a mountain of debt again. The first Ita flight was operated under the Alitalia brand on the Milan Linate-Bari route.

The collaboration with Etihad Airways did not improve Alitalia either and ended in bankruptcy in 2017. Several financial injections from the state meant that the Italian airline was able to stay in the air. The repatriation of the funds is unlikely in view of the bankruptcy proceedings.

Italia Trasporto Aereo (Ita) takes over the role of Alitalia as of today, however, due to requirements of the EU Commission, one cannot call oneself a successor. The competition guardians insist on a tough cut. The Alitalia brand was not sold to anyone on the first try. The trademark rights and the homepage were sold to Ita on Thursday evening. This will continue to fly seamlessly as Alitalia. This applies to the entire brand identity including livery and uniforms. The insolvency administrator accepted the offer for 90 million euros, so that the failed auction led to a private sale.

The approach of the Italians does not only seem like a set game at first glance, because a pseudo auction in which nobody takes part because the minimum bid is completely excessive and a subsequent free-hand sale far below the public minimum bid does not seem exactly transparent. The consequence of this is - at least for the time being: Ita takes off as Alitalia. Only a few aircraft have a special livery “Born in 2021”. The rest of the flies just as they did on Thursday. Spicy: The “operated by Alitalia” notice is already displayed in the Ita web check-in. Of course I mean Ita, who is rebranding Alitalia.

This continues the long history of setting up new companies. The “tough cut” demanded by the EU Commission is being taken to the point of absurdity by the transaction that was carried out yesterday evening. However, there are also restrictions: Ita aka “new Alitalia” cannot seamlessly adopt all codeshare agreements.

As the unions have announced resistance, some irregularities are to be expected in the next few days. The background to the dispute is that there should only be new jobs at Ita for a small fraction of the Alitalia workforce. Furthermore, one refuses to sign collective agreements. According to reports, the new wages are well below those previously paid at Alitalia.