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Travelport has signed a new deal with Flydubai and renewed its full content agreement with Alitalia.

The deals mean the two airlines will have their fares and schedules available on Travelport’s Galileo and Worldspan global distribution systems (GDS) – a first for the middle eastern carrier.

Flydubai’s listing on the GDS will mean the low-cost airline, launched in June 2009, can tap into Travelport’s worldwide network of more than 60,000 travel agents.

source: abtn.co.uk

Italian flag carrier Alitalia Airlines in the next ten days will announce plans to join the antitrust-immune joint venture that includes Delta Air Lines and Air France-KLM, enabling the carrier to jointly set fare, plan routes and share revenues on the transatlantic with its SkyTeam partners.

These carriers already have been courting corporate customers and transitioning international contracts to the joint venture.

source: businesstravelnews.com

Air France-KLM and Alitalia have reached an agreement to strengthen their partnership cemented by Air France-KLM taking a minority stake in Alitalia. This agreement will give Air France-KLM greater access to the Italian market thanks to Alitalia which, following its acquisition of Air One, has reinforced its position on the domestic market.

source: Easier

Alitalia SpA begins operating under new ownership Tuesday but still faces the task of fighting off low-cost rivals in its pivotal domestic market. Alitalia has undergone massive change since it entered bankruptcy protection in late August with more than €1.2 billion ($1.6 billion) in debt.

As part of its restructuring, Alitalia has been merged with its biggest domestic rival, Air One SpA, giving it more than a 55% share of Italy’s internal flights, according to the airline. Lucrative domestic routes, such as that between Rome and Milan, form a key part of Alitalia’s plan to break even next year.

source: WSJ

A last-ditch attempt to find a buyer for crisis-stricken flag carrier Alitalia will be made today as Italy’s transport minister warned that the airline’s planes could be grounded within a week.Alitalia’s special administrator will put the national carrier up for sale, but buyers are thin on the ground.

Unions last week rejected a €1bn (£791m) rescue bid by the CAI consortium of Italian businesses because the plan involved the loss of 3,000 jobs and more stringent working conditions for remaining staff.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

Italy’s economic development ministry has put low cost airline Volare up for sale again, meeting a recent state council court demand, said Alitalia SpA, which bought Volare in a previous auction.

The ministry-appointed extraordinary commissioner for Volare previously put the carrier up for auction. However, Italy’s Air One airline challenged the way the auction was conducted and Alitalia’s win.

source: Forbes

Italy is seeking solutions for Alitalia that would keep it both Italian and privately owned, the government said Saturday, responding to EU warnings against renationalising the ailing air carrier.

Economics Minister Giulio Tremonti said the new government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was “seeking a solution which is Italian and fundamentally private“.

Tremonti said Berlusconi’s new government was committed to attracting Italian investors to Alitalia.

source: Yahoo!

Italy’s failing flag-carrier, Alitalia, faces a crucial week when its future looks likely to be decided at least as much by politics as economics.

Having made the salvation of the group’s “‘Italianness'” central to his successful election campaign, Silvio Berlusconi has to deliver on the promise of an alternative solution to the bid tabled and then withdrawn by Air France-KLM. The group has only enough cash to stay airborne until about the end of May.

Representatives of the incoming and outgoing governments agreed to find a way to keep Alitalia going while its fate was decided. Sources close to the talks said it could include a line of credit worth €100m (£80m) to €150m.

source: Guardian.co.uk

Some 146 flights at Milan’s airports were cancelled on Tuesday when ground staff went on strike to protest against Alitalia’s plans to scale back its presence in northern Italy.

Airport sources said 102 flights were cancelled at Malpensa airport, one of Alitalia’s two hubs, and 44 at Linate, Milan’s smaller airport, during the four-hour stoppage.

source: Reuters

Alitalia SpA, the state-controlled airline Italy is trying to sell, is cutting flights at Milan’s Malpensa airport because it’s “‘economically impossible”’ to maintain two hubs.Alitalia will eliminate unprofitable routes, keeping just three of its current 17 intercontinental flights at Malpensa while increasing traffic at Rome’s Fiumicino airport, the carrier said in a slide presentation on its Web site today. Mounting losses make it impossible to keep two hubs, the company said in the presentation of its summer 2008 schedule.

source: Bloomberg