Italian airline goes on charm offensive
During the past year, about 80% of Alitalia employees have gone through formal training at a new centre here, the carrier’s first such classes in 2 decades. Flight attendants learn how to strike a more welcoming tone of voice and to refer to passengers as “guests.” The change, a culture shock for an airline long known for its surly service, comes as Alitalia’s key shareholder, Etihad Airways, is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to bring the carrier back to its glory days—and leaving no stone unturned. Since it acquired effective control of a near-bankrupt Alitalia in the summer of 2014, Etihad expanded the Italian carrier’s routes, redesigned the interiors of its aging fleet and revamped its in-flight menu. “Alitalia is an aviation icon,” Etihad CE James Hogan said. “We had to once and for all re-establish this business properly.” <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2016-06-14/sky/italian-airline-goes-on-charm-offensive
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Italian airline goes on charm offensive
During the past year, about 80% of Alitalia employees have gone through formal training at a new centre here, the carrier’s first such classes in 2 decades. Flight attendants learn how to strike a more welcoming tone of voice and to refer to passengers as “guests.” The change, a culture shock for an airline long known for its surly service, comes as Alitalia’s key shareholder, Etihad Airways, is spending hundreds of millions of dollars to bring the carrier back to its glory days—and leaving no stone unturned. Since it acquired effective control of a near-bankrupt Alitalia in the summer of 2014, Etihad expanded the Italian carrier’s routes, redesigned the interiors of its aging fleet and revamped its in-flight menu. “Alitalia is an aviation icon,” Etihad CE James Hogan said. “We had to once and for all re-establish this business properly.” <br/>
