The former national carrier Alitalia, which from 1946 to 2021 carried a tricolor brand around the globe that quickly became synonymous with Italianness in the world, is today a shadow of itself. Today the company is under extraordinary administration, entrusted to the commissioners Gabriele Fava, Giuseppe Leongrande and Daniele Santosuosso. But what happened to the managers and top management of the company who led the airline for years?

The latest ex-employee to have reached a prominent position is Marco Sansavini: at Alitalia as commercial director, he worked for almost 10 years with the Air France-KLM Group and then moved to the Spanish airline Iberia where, after a short break as CEO of the low-cost Vueling, he was recently appointed CEO and president of the Iberian flag carrier (see AVIONEWS).

Giorgio Callegari, on the other hand, was the first Italian to join the board of directors of the Russian State carrier, Aeroflot, where he carried out the same role he had in Alitalia from 1999 to 2011, when he was director of strategies. After his years in Russia he subsequently took on senior roles at the energy company Enel and at Generali Bank.

Many of the managers today lead Italian airports or hold prestigious roles in the aviation sector: Andrea Andorno manages the Turin airport; Alexander D'Orsogna the Ancona one; Fausto Palombelli is now president of Assoclearance, which manages the allocation of slots to air carriers. Others have reinvented a job still in the transport sector; like Giancarlo Schisano who is now CEO of Industria Italiana Autobus, or Pierandrea Galli who today leads Cargolux Italia.