Roma, 24 ago. (askanews) – During August 26 ITA will start the sales for flights operating from October 15. Beginning of sales follows the achievement of the certifications (Air Operator Certificate and Operating License) that ITA obtained from ENAC (Italian Aviation Authority) on August 18, 2021. The Board of Directors of ITA, chaired by Chairman Alfredo Altavilla, met today and approved to transform the non-binding offer already sent on August 16 to the Extraordinary Administration of Alitalia into a binding offer which includes 52 aircraft, a related number of slots, as well as contracts and complementary assets from the Aviation sector in order to start operations on October 15. Ticket sales Tickets will be on sale during August 26 on www.itaspa.com website, in travel agencies and at airport ticket offices The website will be a first service release, created to allow customers to purchase tickets in compliance with what is defined in the interaction between the European Commission and the Italian government. ITA has already planned the creation, after the start of operations, of a totally new website, based on the most innovative technologies, that will provide customers with a renewed experience. Confirming its attention to the territories served by PSO air services, ITA will follow with interest developments in this issue and is available to evaluate participation in the public tenders that the competent Authorities should call in order to assign the PSO routes. Customer Center ITA has selected the company Covisian as the supplier of the customer service management service, at the end of the competitive procedure launched in recent weeks. ITA considers the Customer Center area to be a fundamental element in the customer relationship for which it is important to ensure maximum efficiency and sustainability. For this reason, while selecting the supplier, the need to provide this service from Italy and the flexibility in managing the curve of telephone calls volumes according to the needs of the airline from the initial phase of transition to the phase of full operation, by offering digital and innovative solutions, were considered. While waiting for the successful tenderer to start the service, a short interim period is due to start during which this activity will be carried out on behalf of ITA by the staff of Alitalia under Extraordinary Administration. ITA will provide a virtual platform to support Customer Center operations that will use new technologies in the cloud environment developed by market leaders, such as the Salesforce platform for customer relationship management and the Amazon Web Services infrastructure for telephone activities, which also allows the use of artificial intelligence to improve response times and quality in solving customer problems. The project, one of the most innovative in the field of customer management digitization, will proceed progressively, enriching and evolving even more the functions of the ITA Customer Center, in line with the airline strategic objective of providing the customer with quality experience and quickly meet customer needs during the service before departure of flight. Staff Starting from August 26, ITA will launch a campaign to collect applications for professional figures to be subsequently included in the flight and ground operational areas and in the staff areas. In line with the values and strategy of the airline, which decisively focuses on the digitization of business processes to develop a flexible and lean organization, the process of collecting applications will take place on the website https://cving.com/ita-jobs with the assistance of innovative digital platforms. ITA has convened the trade unions on 25 August at 10:30 with the aim of starting the negotiation of new working conditions in line with market practices. Furthermore, ITA is adopting a policy in which all employees will be required to obtain the Green Pass, in line with the anti-Covid procedures and to safeguard the health of employees and customers. Fleet and loyalty program ITA reiterates its decision to make its fleet homogeneous over the course of the Business Plan and, to this end, to start the process of renewing the starting fleet as soon as possible, replacing it with a new generation of more efficient and environmental-friendly aircraft. The decision on the composition of the future ITA fleet will be taken and communicated by September. The airline has also completed the design of a new and innovative loyalty program, totally focused on the customer needs of flexibility and accessibility to flights, and expects to start the procedure for choosing the technology supplier for the management of the program shortly. The Chairman of ITA, Alfredo Altavilla, said: “An indispensable condition and our top priority is to complete negotiation with Alitalia under Extraordinary Administration for the sale of the Aviation perimeter as soon as possible. We have confidence in a constructive interaction with the trade unions in order to provide ITA with a new innovative employment contract capable of ensuring structural competitiveness of the airline with competitors.” The Chief Executive Officer and General Manager of ITA, Fabio Lazzerini, said: “In recent days, with the certifications obtained from ENAC, we have reached an important milestone in the history of ITA. Now we are preparing to achieve another fundamental result: the start of sales. These results have been possible thanks to the women and men of the airline who have done hard work in the past weeks. Now we must achieve new and complex goals in view of the launch of operations on October 15 and numerous projects must be completed in order to create an efficient, sustainable, digital airline, capable of facing future challenges with flexibility and in full discontinuity with the past.”