Well, considering their state at the time, I think Alitalia needed to cut quite a few routes. As I remember, their site showed something like 10 routes cut. It seems quite a few of the MD-11s are becoming cargo craft as they take 777s. Perhaps this is a plane constrained thing? I just think that not having a single carrier in the LAX-Italy market is idiotic and a waste of a money-making oppertunity