The airline took to the skies for the last time on a flight from Rome to Cagliari, touching down for good in the Sardinian capital at 11:22 pm.

It closed the chapter on 74 years of history and was a sad day for Alitalia employees, most of whom will not be re-hired by ITA.

Alitalia ground hostess, Laura Manto, made a moving speech at the gate before the flight departed from Rome.

“Ladies and gentlemen, first of all I wanted to thank you for having accompanied us during the past 74 years,” she said.

“This is our last Alitalia flight; thank you very much for always flying with us and for trusting us.”

Manto’s words were met with an applause from passengers.

“Now, I want to have the honour of making the last announcement for this flight,” she continued.

Manto, who had worked for Alitalia for 16 years, said her future was uncertain.

Only 3000 of Alitalia’s 11,000 staff will be re-hired by ITA.

Alitalia was established as Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali, on September 16, 1946, and started operations on May 5, 1947, in which year it carried over 10,000 passengers.

The inaugural flight was from Turin to Catania and Rome, piloted by Virginio Reinero.

The first intercontinental flight left a year later, flying between Milan and cities in South America.

On October 31, 1957, Alitalia merged with Linee Aeree Italiane and took on the name of Alitalia – Linee Aeree Italiane.

However, it remained known by its popular name – a combination of the Italian words ali and Italia, for wings and Italy.

Alitalia had green, white and red uniforms designed by Giorgio Armani and it was the first airline in the world to carry a pope, with a papal aircraft known as Shepherd One.

An Alitalia flight attendant in 1969

By the 1990s, Alitalia was carrying 25 million passengers annually. 

The state-owned airline struggled with profitability but was always bailed out by the government.

Over subsequent years Alitalia went through various failed investment deals as it attempted to cut costs, all in the face of looming bankruptcy and union strikes.

Alitalia employees in recent years

The airline had been in extraordinary administration since 2017, following years of not turning a profit.

It received €1.3 billion in state funds between 2017 and 2019 to keep it operating.

The airline ceased selling tickets on August 25, 2021, pending the launch of ITA.