Alitalia is the national airline of Italy. The headquarters or Alitalia are situated in Rome, with Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport as main airport. The airline has joined the airline-alliance Skyteam. Alitalia is nineteenth on the list of biggest airlines in the world concerning the number of planes. The firm flies to 101 places, 28 of which are regional. The other 74 are international. Both the government as the shareholders (among which some employees) own 49% of the airline. The remaining 2% is in the hands of Air France - KLM.

The air-transporter was established in 1946. Back then, it was called Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali. On the fifth of May 1947, the first flight was accomplished with a Fiat G-12. That year, over 10.000 passengers travelled with the company. One year later, the airline started with international flights between Milan and a couple of South-American cities. On October 31, 1957, Alitalia merged with Linee Aeree Italiane, since then the airline has adopted a new name: Alitalia Linee Aeree Italiane.

Alitalia has lost a lot of money the last years, and since the company was founded there was only one year which was very profitable. Because of that, the government and other companies had to invest large sums of money. In 2004, Alitalia faced a big financial crisis. It was so bad, the airline couldn't even pay its employees anymore. The plan was to fire 5000 people and split the firm in two: one section for the airtravel and one for services on the ground. But when the European Union forbade the Italian government to invest more money, people started to look for another solution. A next option was to privatise the airline a little more, so that the government would give some of its power away and other companies could buy shares. The bidders withdraw, though. Due to the increasing oil prices, it's expected that the debts of Alitalia will raise to 600 million euros in 2008.

There have been negotiations between KLM and Alitalia in 2000. However, these were abandoned. In the end of 2007, new talks will start to make it possible that people can buy shares from the Italian government. Around the 11^th of March, the negotiations will finish. AirFrance-KLM wants to put a lot of money in the business to get Alitalia back on track. About 1.700 people will have to be made redundant.