History of Alitalia

On 5 May 1947, a Fiat G-12 Alcione, piloted by Virginio Reinero, took off from Turin on a flight to Catania via Rome, marking the start of Alitalia’s activities. Two months later, a Savoia Marchetti SM-95 bound for Oslo took off from Rome with 38 Norwegian sailors onboard – the Company’s first international flight. In March the following year, a Lancastrian flew from Milan to Buenos Aires, thereby marking Alitalia’s first intercontinental flight. The plane departed from Milan and made stops in Rome, Dakar, Natal, Rio de Janeiro, and São Paulo before reaching Buenos Aires on a haul lasting more than 36 hours.

Since its inception, Alitalia has stood out in the Italian market and its history has often been intertwined with Italy’s own. In 1960, Alitalia was the official carrier for the Rome Olympic games. In the same period, the Company took delivery of its first jets (DC-8 and Caravelle aircraft) and the number of passengers transported exceeded one million for the first time. The Company continued to grow in the 1970s with the opening of routes to North America and Japan and with the introduction of the first Jumbo B747, the “giant of the skies” carrying 369 passengers. In the 1980s and 1990s, the fleet continued to grow with the arrival of McDonnell Douglas MD80s and MD11s, Airbuses and Boeing 767s. The number of passengers transported each year was close to 20 million.

On 7 July 2001, Alitalia became a member of the SkyTeam alliance that today comprises nine of the world’s leading airlines including Northwest, KLM, Air France, Continental, Delta Air Lines, Korean Air, AeroMexico, CSA Czech Airlines and Aeroflot. Its network offers 728 flights to more than 130 countries. Alitalia currently has a fleet of 181 aircraft and two primary hubs, Fiumicino and Malpensa, constituting the home base of a network that reaches 63 countries on six continents. The fastest growing routes are those to Eastern Europe, India and China – markets which are expanding rapidly also in terms of demand for air transport.