Air France buying Alitalia

[Garry Russell]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7299203.stm

Garry

[Techy111]

Its really strange that a national carrier can be sold to the country of another national carrier.....

Wonder if they will re-brand it.....?

Maybe they will call it "Air Franalia"

Tony

[Garry Russell]

Hi Tony

They already own KLM

It looks like it will be similar with the airline appearing to carry on as normal......for now.


Garry

[markw]

I have to say my experiences of both Air France and Alitalia is that they are both made for each other. I found the Air France cabin staff generally to be rude and lackadasical, vanishing up the back as soon as they could, and Alitalia cabin staff generally more interested in posing and chatting to each other than serving the customers. Unless they have changed radically since I last flew with them, which I doubt, Alitalia are going to need a huge amount of sorting out and I'm not sure the French are best placed to do it. Alitalia staff will down tools over the slightest thing, so they won't take job losses lightly, yet the recovery plan calls for the virtual abandonment of Milan as a long-haul operation and concentration on Rome, which given Italian regional politics is going to go down like a fart at a Buck House garden party with staff and local politicians.

To be honest I was more surprised when KLM and Air France merged as I've always rated the Dutch as being on the ball and efficient, whilst Air France was riddled with a typically French "not my problem, mate" attitude to everything. I'd have thought KLM would have been better placed with Lufty or even BA than Air France as a partner.

Perhaps things have changed since I last flew with AF or AZ?

[Kevin Farnell]

I suppose that the EU won't even bat an eyelid.

Had BA merged with KLM and then tried to take over Alitalia, it would have been blocked.
Not that I'm any fan of BA.

Kevin

[Garry Russell]

By the French I would think Kevin :-(

Garry

[Garry Russell]

Looks like it's off

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7326320.stm

Garry