THE ALLIANCE between KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Alitalia has ended. The airlines have announced that the two-year-old partrnership was terminated jointly on April 28 this year.
The alliance had allowed freight to be routed via Holland or Italy by either airline using the other's facilities at no additional costs, with KLM flying seven times a week from Johannesburg to Amsterdam and Alitalia five times a week to Milan Malpensa and once to Rome.
A statement issued by the airlines states that the separation has occurred in a 'sensitive and orderly fashion.'
But it is understood that it was encouraged by opposition politicians in Italy who had expressed concern that the move could threaten the survival of the Italian flag carrier.
Ongoing handling problems at Malpensa airport are also understood to have been behind KLM's eagerness to end the arrangement. Both airlines have confirmed that their schedules will remain unchanged as a result of the termination.
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