Costa Crociere Takes Off With Alitalia: “Fly & Cruise” Around The World In Pursuit Of All Things Italian
The
three-year agreement makes around 100,000 seats on scheduled and charter
flights operated by Alitalia available to Costa cruise passengers until the end
of 2018.
For
cruise passengers departing from Italy, maximum comfort and excellent services
throughout the holiday experience, backed by two of the best ambassadors of
Italy in the world.
Milan, 13 July 2015 - Costa Crociere, an ambassador
of Italian style and excellence in the world for 67 years, and Alitalia, the
main Italian airline, have signed a three-year agreement thanks to which Costa
cruise passengers departing from Italy can use Alitalia scheduled and charter
flights to reach the ports of embarkation for Costa cruises around the world.
The
agreement, presented today at EXPO Milano 2015, envisages a total of around
100,000 airline seats on Alitalia flights, made available to Costa Cruises in
the period 2015-2018. It represents further growth for the Italian market of
the “fly + cruise” formula, which Costa Crociere was the first to offer to the
world back in 1968.
“There is a well-established
relationship in place with Alitalia, which takes on significant value for our
guests who are looking for Italian style at all times during their travel
experience,” Neil
Palomba, President of Costa Crociere, reminds us. “This new agreement underlines our focus on customer service,
characterised by the offer of solutions with increased comfort, but also - concludes
Palomba - the ability to innovate and to
create a system of two Italian companies which represent an essential engine
for the growth of tourism in Italy.”
Ariodante
Valeri, Chief Commercial Officer of Alitalia, stated: “What we are presenting today with Costa Crociere is an agreement of
great value between two companies at the forefront of Italian tourism around
the world. In order to give new impetus to tourism, in an increasingly
competitive global market, now more than ever, we need to create a system –
institutions, large enterprises, trade and services – and the agreement between
Alitalia and Costa Crociere is heading in this direction.
Alitalia
flights for Costa Crociere will link a total of 27 Italian airports to the
following destinations: the Caribbean and the United States, with the airports
in Pointe a Pitre (Guadeloupe) and Miami; the United Arab Emirates; Northern
Europe with Warnemunde-Rostock, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Stockholm; Trieste
for one-week cruises in the eastern Mediterranean.
The
agreement between Alitalia and Costa Crociere also envisages significant
benefits in terms of schedules, flexibility and above all quality and comfort,
the aim being to minimise the time spent managing embarkation and
disembarkation procedures and to use all the time available for enjoying the
cruise holiday.
Starting
from the exclusive “through check-in” service, available at all Italian
airports with Alitalia only, on both charter and scheduled flights: Costa
cruise passengers will receive boarding passes for all flights through to their
final destination, and will also be able to drop off their luggage at the
departure airport and have it conveniently brought to their cabin on board the
ship.
At
Warnemunde-Rostock airport, an even more innovative, top quality service will
be available for the return home: on the evening before
disembarkation, cruise passengers will be able to drop off their luggage and
get their boarding passes for the return flight while still on board the ship.
For more information:
Costa Crociere
Press Office - Tel. +39 010 5483523 / +39 010 5483068 - costapressoffice@costa.it
Gabriele Baroni –
Communication Director – mob. +39 3497668013 - baroni@costa.it
Press releases and photos available on www.costapresscenter.com
Alitalia
Alitalia
Media – tel. -39 06 65638950 – e-mail media@alitalia.com
Community
Anna
Cavallarin – tel. +39 347 7463559 – e-mail anna.cavallarin@communitygroup.it
