The reasons for the sentence with which the Rome Labor judge last month ordered the reinstatement of 77 layoff workers of the former Alitalia company in the current flag carrier ITA Airways were published in the last few hours. A decision that denied the thesis of the European Union on the discontinuity between two Italian airlines and indeed underlining the existence of a functional connection between the two airlines.

The Labor judge argued his decision as follows: from the first day of activity, on 15 October 2021, and for a few months, ITA Airways flew only thanks to planes (52 aircraft), information systems and software, old employees and on the same Alitalia routes (only new Rome-Tokyo, Rome-Verona, Milan-Duesseldorf). To start its business, the new airline had recruited expert personnel, immediately operational and equipped with the licences that the law requires to fly, caught in the basin of layoffs by Alitalia (1188 out of 1201), now bankrupt.

In short, according to the judges, there is not enough data to determine a discontinuity with Alitalia. This is dangerous, because that makes it possible to establish functional continuity between the old and new national airline. And while the European Commission acknowledges a full discontinuity between ITA and Alitalia, the Italian judge considers the position of Brussels non-binding. Meanwhile, privatization continues with the Germans of Lufthansa.