While Air Italy has started its long-haul routes to Miami and New York, Alitalia is working hard to keep its top flyers loyal to the airline at a time when it needs the most support. Today, Alitalia inaugurated the new Casa Alitalia lounge at Rome Fiumicino’s Pier E, the new boarding area for most of Alitalia’s medium and long-haul flights to extra-Schengen destinations.
The airline only last week announced a new uniform, just a couple of years after the last one, so it seems that the airline is still investing into its product and the launch of the new Rome lounge reflects this investment in customer experience.
The new Casa Alitalia at Pier E actually replaces the lounge located at the former Pier H of the airport which has been available so far for passengers traveling on non-Schengen flights. With the opening of the new Pier E at Fiumicino airport and the relocation of the majority of the Alitalia flights into the new airport facility, it was appropriate to set up a lounge closer to the boarding area in order to improve service to passengers and make boarding operations more efficient.
The lounge mirrors the design of the other lounge in Rome Fiumicino with live cooking and bar areas, a dedicated children’s area with games and TV with cartoons, business meeting rooms, Wi-Fi connectivity and showers.
The large communal tables, open pizza ovens and live cooking stations preparing fresh pasta epitomise Italian cuisine and add a sense of Italian drama and flair to the space which is decked out in cool neutral tones, polished surfaces and contemporary Italian design flourishes.
While personally we had hoped that the airline would continue to follow the design trend of their previous Rome and Venice launches – as these had an element of humour, fun and levity to the design approach – this new lounge is perhaps a little more utilitarian and paired back in style and therefore more attractive to the 95th percentile. That said, both designs still offer a unique, and quintessentially Italian space to spend some time before you long-haul or medium-haul flight.
Free access to Casa Alitalia and the other Alitalia lounges is reserved to members of Alitalia Freccia Alata Plus, Freccia Alata, SkyTeam Elite Plus clubs, Alitalia Magnifica and medium-haul business class ticket holders and Alitalia American Express Platinum cardholders flying with Alitalia. A single-entry access to Casa Alitalia can also be purchased by all travellers.
TheDesignAir 
Looks wonderful..