Italy’s national airline gives up Bucharest-Rome flight

Italy’s troubled national airline Alitalia will give up its flights from Bucharest to Rome starting February. The route is not viable anymore from a financial point of view, according to sources from Alitalia, cited by local Economica.net. Low cost airlines such as Wizz Air and Blue Air are the biggest flight operators on routes between Romania and Italy. The company will contact the travelers and will offer them the possibility to change their route or have their money reimbursed. This was the only route Alitalia still operated from Romania after the company canceled its flights from Bucharest to Milan. The Italian national airline is facing a serious liquidity crisis. Last summer the company’s losses amounted to EUR 500,000 per day. In 2014, the Arab group Etihad acquired a stake of 49% in the company for EUR 560 million. The investment was part of a plan to save the airline, which was worth EUR 1.76 billion. The rest of 51% is owned by several shareholders, with the Italian banks UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo being the largest of them. editor@romania-insider.com (photo source: Alitalia on Facebook)