Alitalia — Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021

Alitalia — Flights, Punctuality & Cancellations in 2021

After we’ve analyzed some of Europe’s biggest carriers, such as SAS, Iberia, or Air France, we continue the most detailed airline analysis with Italy’s Alitalia. Alitalia is Italy’s flag carrier and the biggest airline in the country. Therefore, we analyzed Alitalia’s performance in 2021: Flight rankings, punctuality reports, and cancellation rates. Moreover, we benchmarked the airline’s flight performance against regional and global averages. Here’s what’s contained in detail:

Flight Analysis
Monthly Flight Overview
Global & Europen Ranking By Number of Flights
Pre-COVID Benchmark

Flight Punctuality
Monthly Punctuality Overview
Global & European Ranking By Punctuality

Flight Cancellations
Monthly Cancellation Overview
Global & European Ranking By Cancellation Rate

Alitalia — Flight Analysis

Let’s start the analysis with details about Alitalia’s flights from February to July 2021. Then, on top of the overall numbers, we also provide information on the airline’s share of EMEA traffic and the carrier’s ranking compared to other European and global airlines. Finally, and as the icing on the cake, we compare the performance in 2021 to pre-COVID results from 2019. So let’s dive into it!

Monthly Flight Overview

Alitalia started the year with a tiny amount of flights. In February, the airline operated only some 3,000 flights. The carrier saw considerable growth in April when Alitalia added almost 50% to its schedule. However, May was another month of stagnation. Nevertheless, Alitalia has continued on its growth path in June and July with 21.5% and 30% growth rates.

Month	No. Flights	vs. prev. Month
February	3,061
March	3,483	13.8%
April	5,089	46.1%
May	5,084	0%
June	6,177	21.5%
July	8,035	30.1%
Avg. ’21	5,105	18.6%

The below charts illustrates the flight growth in total number and percentage from February to July.

Global & European Ranking By Flight Volume

Alitalia observed a very stable ranking in terms of flight volume. From a domestic point of view, Alitalia has been the biggest airline – without any match in the market at the moment. However, when looking at Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Alitalia ranks solidly in a corridor between 19th and 22nd. Moreover, globally, Alitalia ranked 61st on average.

Pre-COVID Benchmark

To provide more context, we put Alitalia’S flight figures in relation to pre-COVID volume. Therefore we benchmark 2021 data with 2019. Between February and July, Alitalia operated on average 11,080 flights less in 2021. However, here’s the important figure: Alitalia managed to reduce the gap to pre-COVID volume from >78% to 56% from February to July. Unfortunately, the results are much weaker compared to other airlines (see here: Vueling, Ryanair, easyJet)

Month	Flights 2021	Flights 2019	’21 vs. ’19 (abs)	’21 vs. ’19 (%)
February	3,061	14,254	11,193	78.5%
March	3,483	14,969	11,486	77.1%
April	5,089	16,223	11,134	68.7%
May	5,084	16,805	11,721	69.8%
June	6,177	16,673	10,496	63.2%
July	8,035	18,485	10,450	56.8%
Avg. ’21	5,155	16,234	11,080	69.1%

Alitalia – Flight Punctuality

In the following chapter, we take a deeper look at the carrier’s flight performance regarding punctuality. Again, we benchmark the airline’s results with EMEA averages and provide a domestic, regional, and global ranking.

Monthly Puncutality Overview

Alitalia achieved outstanding results in terms of punctuality. From February to July, the carrier achieved an average on-time performance of 91.3%, 9pp above the EMEA, and almost 12pp above the global average.

Alitalia Flights — Global & European Ranking By Punctuality

Based on the above figures, Alitalia achieved solid rankings. On an EMEA level, Alitalia, on average, ranked 24th, whereas, on a global level, the carrier ranked 48th on average.

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Alitalia – Flight Cancellations

In the last chapter of this report, we take a detailed look at Alitalia’s flight cancellations. Similar to the previous chapter, we put results in relation to regional averages and provide rankings.

Monthly Cancellation Overview

From January to July, Alitalia achieved incredible results in terms of schedule reliability. In four out of the six months, Alitalia did not cancel a single flight. As a result, Alitalia’s overall cancellation rate is 0.1%. That’s 2.6pp below the EMEA and 7.2pp below the world average.

Alitalia Flights — European Ranking by Cancellations

Alitalia ranks among the world’s top airlines in most of the analyzed months based on the amazing results.

Used Data

The shown information is based on OAG data and internal data sources. Rankings only included airlines that operated more than 500 flights in the respective month. However, the global benchmark includes all tracked flights. On average, 200 airlines are included in each month’s analysis. Whenever stated, EMEA refers to airlines based in Europe, the Middle East, or Africa.

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