Alitalia

Alitalia is the national airline of Italy, headquartered in Rome. The airline's main base is at Malpensa International Airport, Milan, with a hub at Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport, Rome. Its board of members consists of 21 Italian industrialists and financiers. Alitalia is the 19th largest passenger airline in the world, in terms of fleet size. Presently, it serves 102 airports, with 2960 flights per week. The airline is a member of Star Alliance, the global alliance of airlines. "Mille Miglia" is the name of its frequent flier program.

History
Alitalia came into being on September 16, 1946, as Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali (popularly known as Alitalia). The airline started its operations on May 5, 1947, with the inaugural flight taking off between Turin and Rome. It started its international operations in 1948, with the first flight between Milan and a few cities in South America. On October 31, 1957 Alitalia merged with Linee Aeree Italiane and took on the name of Alitalia Linee Aeree Italiane. In 1997, it set up a regional subsidiary Alitalia Express and in 2001; the airline became a member of the Sky Team Alliance.

In April 2004, Alitalia took over bankrupt regional airline Gandalf Airlines, to gain additional slots at several European airports. In January 2009, the airline sold 25% stake of the company to Air France-KLM entering into an international partnership under a co-operative agreement. The option of future stock purchase has been kept open and Alitalia will keep its name, logo and uniforms. It was decided not to increase fares due to this partnership. In 2009, it also bought Air One, a previously existing airline of Italy and even bought assets from Alitalia-Linee Aeree Italiane, the former flag carrier of Italy

Destinations Covered
Alitalia operates flights to 24 domestic and 66 international destinations. It covers almost the whole of Italy, apart from international destinations like U.S, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and France, Germany, Russia, Bulgaria, Belgium, Albania, Greece, Hungary, Netherlands, Malta, Poland, Switzerland, Romania, Serbia, United Kingdom, Ukraine and Turkey. In Asia it serves nations like Japan, Israel, Lebanon, Iran and Syria, while in Africa it flies to Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, and Tunisia. In India, Alitalia serves Mumbai.

Fleet
Alitalia�s fleet has over 150 in-service aircrafts, consisting of 12 Airbus A319-100, 11 Airbus A320-214, 32 Airbus A320-216, 23 Airbus A321-100, 2 Airbus A330-200, 4 Boeing 737-300, 14 Boeing 737-400, 6 Boeing 767-300ER, 10 Boeing 777-200ER, 10 Bombardier CRJ 900, 6 Embraer ERJ-170 and 22 McDonnell Douglas MD-82. It has also placed orders for around 82 aircrafts, which it is yet to receive.