The Italian airline Alitalia has announced that it will suspend all its flights from October 15, and the company will close.
Anyone who buys tickets at a later date can get their money or book an earlier flight.
The carrier will be replaced by the state-owned company ITA (Italia Trasporto Aereo), which will start selling tickets today, August 26, and will operate flights from October 15.
52 Alitalia aircraft, slots at airports and other property were transferred to ITA.
Reserved and purchased tickets to Alitalia do not apply to ITA, which does not yet have a working website for selling its own tickets.
Alitalia states that it will contact each of its customers directly and provide instructions on what to do next. Ticket exchange is free and valid only in the same direction until October 15. It is also possible to change the destination of the ticket or fly to the same place, but with docking with different airports. However, this requires additional costs, and if the new route is cheaper, no compensation is provided. They also cannot change internationally with national flights and vice versa.
Protests against plans to close the company, which was declared bankrupt in 2017, took place in various cities in Italy in April and May. Then not only the workers but also the right-wing demonstrators joined the discontent, and clashes with the police began.