The journey is over. Almost. As well as the dream of the Sardinian airline based on the island. The parable of Air Italy is now running out. For the Sardinian Qatari company, the end of the journey is on the horizon. And then the all at home of the 1,322 workers currently in layoffs and distributed between the two hubs of Olbia and Malpensa. For the moment we are looking at the interministerial appointment of December 15 even if, after the no of the company in liquidation to the request for renewal of the Cig, the collective dismissal for workers is getting closer and closer from next January 1 should all be out of the corporate circuit.
A 60-year history
These are the last images of a film begun in the early 1960s with the birth, by the hand of Prince Karim Aga Khan, of the Costa Smeralda and the Alisarda company, the carrier born in 1963. The goal was to grow the Thing by connecting Olbia with Cagliari but also with Milan, Rome, Nice, Turin, Genoa and Bologna. Then the changes, with Alisarda becoming Meridiana and Meridiana Fly and then Air Italy. However, the wedding between the Sardinian airline and Qatar Airways does not seem to bring the desired results. In the meantime, mobilizations and protests start.
Liquidation, Covid and Cig
Then on February 11, 2020 the decision to put the company into liquidation due to the losses. Following the opening of the procedure to get to collective redundancies. A decision suspended by the legislative measures linked to the health emergency linked to Covid 19. A trade union agreement followed and the signing of the redundancy fund agreement from 1 September 2020 to 30 June. In the meantime, the stop to company activity and other activities related to liquidation, including the sale of movable property. Then the mobilization and the extension until 31 December 2021.
The procedure for saving the savable
In the meantime, the procedure starts with all the meetings between trade unions, the company and representatives of the institutions. The number of workers distributed between Malpensa and Olbia fell from 1,450 to 1,383 and then dropped to 1,322. “The company has always emphasized its desire not to ask for an extension of the Cig and to close the liquidation – says Arnaldo Boeddu, general secretary of Filt Sardegna – let’s just say that we are facing the end of a dream that lasted sixty years”.
However, a knot still remains to be resolved, that linked to the future of employees. “These are 1,322 people with a high professional profile who are unlikely to show up again on the island”.