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Rome: Alitalia SpA, the Italian airline that lost about 3 million euros ($4.8 million) a day last month, will fly Benedict XVI on his first-ever trip to the US as pope.
While investors and potential buyers like Air France-KLM Group may have lost faith in Italy's national carrier, it's still the airline of choice for the Vatican. "The papacy has trusted in Alitalia for more than 40 years," the airline said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Alitalia has lost 54 per cent of its value in the last six months, cutting the company's market value to 555 million euros.
The pope will board a Boeing 777 at noon on April 15 in Rome and land at Andrews Air Force Base in Washington at 4 p.m. local time, Alitalia said. His plane, carrying the papal emblem, will be flown by three pilots and have 12 flight attendants on board, including one German national assigned to the pontiff's area of the plane.
Maurizio Prato, who resigned as Alitalia's chairman last week after the Air France talks broke down, was appointed in February as international financial controller of the Vatican.
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