Alitalia President Roberto
Colaninno and six others could face fraud charges for allegedly
selling an airline ticket to a customer who expected to fly with
the Italian carrier but was in fact on a Romanian craft,
prosecutors said Thursday.
The case stems from an incident in February 2013 involving
a Carpatair flight from Pisa to Rome that slid off the runway at
Fiumicino airport.
Several people were injured, including two seriously, in
the crash.
One passenger was reportedly convinced the plane was
Alitalia when it was actually operated by the Romanian company
Carpatair firm, which has a co-share agreement with Alitalia.
Soon after the crash, Italy's antitrust authority (AGCM)
opened investigations into Alitalia and separate criminal probes
into the incident also began.
AGCM said at the time it wanted to know whether Alitalia
infringed the national consumer code in providing information
about partner carriers and code-sharing.
That probe follows complaints by consumer watchdog
association Codacons and internal checks.
Alitalia at the time denied the charges.
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