Sergio Ferriani

After having to deal with the snags of the KLM disintegration, Alitalia is back with a focussed and structured approach for its Indian operations. Reveals Sergio Ferriani, general manager - India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bangladesh, Alitalia, "India is an important destination for us and we have a planned focus on the market. However, we are very cautious in our strategies.

Our immediate plans would include increasing our existing six flights to seven from November 2003. We are also looking at Delhi as a potential market as it has been in the plans of the airline for a long time. The South too would form a part of our future markets in India."

So how would Alitalia be targeting the Indian market this year? “Well,” Ferriani adds, “We are using the marketing and advertising medium, working with the travel industry ie agents and ENIT ie the Italian Tourism Board in India. We have recently launched our new campaign called 'Think Green' Subsequently, we as an airline promote Italy as a destination in our own way, but one must comprehend that the percentage of Indian visitors to Italy is a growing segment. So, our main idea as of now would be to consolidate our position in the Indian market with the existing business.”