The supporters of the national airline, the one that has always isolated Sardinia and Sardinians at a high price, will revolt. Woe to talk about "patch" on the plane that connects Cagliari with the capital. For the know-it-alls of the air it is a mending of the skies, a pass of "speed tape", an adhesive tape to be used, rarely and only to carry out small repairs (to be authorised) on aircraft and racing cars. State reassurances will not be lacking: everything is safe, standards respected, regular patching up. The reality, however, is there, before the eyes of the passengers of the Az 1588 flight, the one that connects Cagliari with Rome at 7.20 in the morning. The dawn is that of August 2nd. The air "stress" has long kept Sardinians and others under seizure. The subheading justification is always the same: we don't have enough planes to satisfy the demands of territorial continuity. State and regional promises of prompt intervention to limit the inconvenience have had the effect of nothing. The ball was thrown away: we'll talk about it for the next territorial continuity. For now we have to suffer, in silence.

Born 2021, the illusion

The dominus, in the Sardinian and Roman palaces, has always been limited to the overwhelming power of the still state-owned company, the test-tube daughter of Alitalia. The newborn Ita had presented herself with an obstetrics ward slogan: "Born in 2021". In fact, formally, they were right. In stamped and company papers they had affixed the seal to what was supposed to be the year of the advent. In practice, however, underneath, it was a real assisted resurrection. The "claim", as advertisers call the "launch" of a product, had been printed with paint and writing on an Airbus 320/216, aeronautical code name EI-EIB. The livery also took the eyes off the pink flamingos that stand out on the Santa Gilla route. A cyclopean writing to greet the new born. The aircraft, however, was anything but fresh from the Airbus family shipyards. Brushes and designers had rejuvenated it not a little with that "2021" imprinted in large letters on those 37 meters in length. The illusion of that year embossed in red on the inaugural plane was short-lived. Just enough time for an avalanche of losses, over 500 million euros in 2022 alone. A sort of disaster, capable of tracing in all respects the deeds of stepmother Alitalia. A result in sharp contrast with most of the European majors, from Luftansa to Tap, which reported profits and economic recovery. Let alone when the wayfarers from Cagliari landed at the capital's airport.

“Hidden” in Ostia

A passenger, a Roman from Rome, didn't send him word: you were letting us get off at Ostia for a while longer. The reference is all for the aircraft parking, "moored" at the extreme periphery of the Roman airport, close to the fence, away from prying eyes. They had good reason to protect that plane, to keep it at a safe distance from the fingers, from those telescopic walkways, which display liveries and delays to the audience of bystanders looking out of the large windows. The illusion of having traveled on a new generation plane is torn into a thousand pieces when the emergency bus arrives at the end of the airport to pick up the Sardinians and not only from that flight. The positioning is a distraction that in an instant erases that writing as large as it is surreal. The access doors on the vehicle remain open to the bitter end until a young couple with children has recovered a stroller lost in the hold of the Airbus. The waiting time is interminable for those who would have wanted to avoid the crime in every way. When the frames begin to impress themselves on the latest generation cell phones it is too late to accept the recommendation not to photograph the plane. The telephone telephoto lenses, however, were already all aimed at that giant "patch", almost a square meter of "mending" with scotch tape, attached to that giant with the same "skill" reserved for an apixedda. There isn't a single side of that aluminum "painting" glued on that plane that can make one perceive a good bodywork job. All that money spent to promote the new company dissolved like snow in the sun as those photographs immortalized the exact opposite of the reassurances of the "wise" fans of the bottomless aerial pit. Of course, the aeronautics go out of their way to tell that this is not scotch but "speed tape", a real force of the skies, ready to withstand any bad weather. Too bad that, as the images we publish show clearly, clearly and without appeal, that very "strong" adhesive tape was coming off on the upper left flap. Hiding the evidence would not only be less credible, but also unjustifiable. This is a serious fact, which no one will be able to declassify as an ordinary fact, also because the surface of that "patch" clearly hides findings that make it clear that the "retouching" is not an irrelevant episode. Even the staunchest defenders of the newborn company say it: that tape is used for urgent, limited periods of time, perhaps for a short-haul flight, then, in theory, the repairs should be carried out without wasting time. A repair that did not take place, forcing the use of that aircraft on a territorial continuity route, or rather a public service, with no alternatives. To go to Rome or Milan from Sardinia those are the flights, those are the planes: few and all in a monopoly regime. Impossible to know the reason for that "patch" that makes the fans of the state company so indignant.

Money and security

At the moment, it is impracticable to check whether that "mending" is already under the scrutiny of the Flight Safety Agency, since that plane is not a sinless Airbus. The "Report aviation safety" that we have tells of a very serious accident, which occurred in 2013, precisely to the Airbus 320/216, with the code EI-EIB, the same one that flew today complete with an adhesive "patch". The competent bodies will assess whether the safety conditions of that "flying glue" were adequate, it is neither our job nor the fans'. One fact is certain, however, if the collective perception denies the "serenity" of flying, one cannot turn a blind eye. And every citizen has the duty to responsibly report and denounce every slightest "potential" danger. It is not an "adhesive putty" of a land vehicle, but an aircraft flying at an altitude of 12,000 meters at 980 km per hour. Everyone has the right to fly on planes in full and total efficiency, always, even more when one expects to charge for a territorial continuity route to and from Sardinia such as the one for New York. Last detail: territorial continuity is paid for by the Sardinians. In calculating the money "given" to the companies, the depreciation of new planes is envisaged, a pity, however, that they are "patched up".

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