A New York-bound Alitalia airliner crashes into a cemetery in Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
Alitalia - Società Aerea Italiana S.p.A., operating as Alitalia (Italian pronunciation: [aliˈtaːlja]), was an airline which was once the flag carrier and largest airline of Italy. The company had its head office in Fiumicino, Rome. The airline was fully owned by the Government of Italy since 17 March 2020. The airline operated a fleet of Airbus A319, Airbus A320, Airbus A321, Airbus A330-200, and Boeing 777-200ER aircraft to over 34 scheduled domestic, European and intercontinental destinations. The airline operated from its main hub at Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport. The airline was a full member of SkyTeam alliance and it had codeshare agreements with 42 airlines. In 2018, the airline was the twelfth-largest airline in Europe.
The airline was in extraordinary administration since 2017 following years of unprofitability. On 24 August 2021, Alitalia announced that it would cease operations on 15 October 2021, and that passengers with tickets for later flights could reschedule on an earlier flight or request a refund. On 15 October 2021, its operations and assets were transferred to ITA Airways, a new state-owned flag carrier.