I have some problems with thrillers. Directors and scriptwriters have to rely on a number of familiar ways to keep the story going until the end. Then, that character that is barely mentioned, that hardly appears, that we dismiss as irrelevant, will end up being the murderer.
Then, towards the end of the film, we will be able to connect the dots and everything we watched in passages will be linked into an unavoidable argument against the character. As viewers, once we identify the method, it becomes difficult to be surprised and we kind of see it coming. To avoid this, increasingly complex twists and turns are sought. Some of them work, some don’t.
In the most obvious plot twist in the history of contemporary commercial aviation, ITA Airways announced that it intends to revert to using the Alitalia brand in its operations as of March this year. Alfredo Altavilla, ITA Airways President, confirmed this to the transport commission of the Italian legislature.
As reported by Leonard Berberi in Il Corriere Della Sera, Altavilla told the Chamber that «as in other European airlines that have more than one brand under the same group» ITA aims to reincorporate Alitalia, although there are no reports that a low-cost division using the brand will be created, nor that ITA’s model will mutate to LCC to leave the legacy operation to the traditional Tricolori. It was also not defined whether it will be used for long-haul operations or for domestic or intra-European trips.
It would be a slap in the face for the European Union’s antitrust authority to see the Alitalia brand flying in the skies of Europe, since less than a year ago it ordered the dissolution of the old company and the creation of a new company as an essential condition to allow contributions from the Italian state.
After months of claiming that ITA had paid 90 million euros «to preserve the brand» and prevent a competitor from buying it, Altavilla now says that «we always intended to use the name to be integrated into the commercial offer». The (re)incorporation of the brand may be related to making ITA more attractive to achieve an alliance with one of Europe’s giants before the self-imposed deadline of June 30, 2022.
The process of hearing offers for this essential alliance will formally begin in February, when the data room will be opened to those interested to know in-depth the results of the company in this time of operation. The numbers are not good: 170 million losses -according to Altavilla, «to be expected»- and a complex panorama while Omicron continues to be on the horizon.
«An alliance is necessary for Ita Airways to stay in the market, but it cannot be a façade and based on false commercial agreements: it must be substantiated in an equity position,» said Altavilla. On the other hand, ITA is leaving the important Milan Malpensa hub to concentrate on what it can operate: Fiumicino in Rome. An alliance may give it enough traction to regain it before other operators take advantage of the weakness and consolidate in northern Italy.
Therefore, as in one of those thrillers that surprise no one, the Alitalia brand will once again fly representing Italy in the world. It was only a matter of time, although no one expected it to take so long.
