ALITALIA AIRBUS A321 I-BIXW CN 488 . Taken In August 1986 . Editorial Image

Alitalia Alitalia (Italian pronunciation: [ali?ta?lja]), was an Italian airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy.The company had its head office in Fiumicino, in the Metropolitan City of Rome Capital. The airline was owned by the Government of Italy as a nationalized business from its founding in 1946 until it was privatized in 2009. However, it struggled with profitability whilst operating as a private company, including failed negotiations to sell to other private parties. The airline entered extraordinary administration in 2017 following many years of financial losses.The Italian government eventually took back ownership of the airline in March 2020.The airline operated a fleet of Airbus A319-100, Airbus A320-200, Airbus A321-100, Airbus A330-200, and Boeing 777-200ER aircraft to over 34 scheduled domestic, European and intercontinental destinations. The airline operated from its main hub at Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport in Rome. The airline was a full member of the SkyTeam alliance, and it had codeshare agreements with 42 airlines. In 2018, the airline was the twelfth-largest airline in Europe.On 24 August 2021, Alitalia announced that it would cease operations on 15 October 2021, and that passengers with tickets for later flights could reschedule on an earlier flight or request a refund.On 15 October 2021, in a hybrid reorganization, Alitalia sold its entire operation to ITA Airways, a newly formed state-owned flag carrier.