Contains colour images, many unpublished. Covers one of Iran's most popular airlines, not often covered in Western publishing. Part of Airlines Series.

The story of Alitalia is one of many mergers in post-war Italy, followed by expansion and ending in a series of subsequent bankruptcies. Alitalia was set up in 1946 as Aerolinee Italiane Internazionali as a result of an Anglo-Italian agreement with the Italian government (60 per cent) and BEA (40 per cent) as shareholders. The airline took to the sky on May 5, 1947 and transported in its first year some 10,000 passengers. For domestic flights, the airline used Fiat G-12 aircraft whereas international and intercontinental routes were served with Savoia-Marchetti SM.95 aircraft. On October 31,...