Alitalia’s odyssey continues, with a new twist: As the bankrupt airline nears an October 31 deadline for bidders who want to take over or dismember the carrier, Italy’s new right-leaning government has stepped in to say it wants 15% of the new company.
That’s a complete turnaround from previous government actions which have insisted there would be no more government support. The state has kept the airline flying for the past two years on bridge loans that it hopes to have repaid by whatever bidder wins on Oct, 31, whether to operate it, or to strip its fleet and routes.
The announcement by Economic Development Minister Luigi Di Maio, a member of the populist Five-Star Movement, might throw a monkey-wrench into some of the potential bids, since some bidders were believed mainly interested in taking Alitalia’s long-distance routes and planes, and ditching the rest, possibly not even keeping the Alitalia name.
Di Maio also said that in addition to the government itself, the state-owned railway company Ferrovie dello Stato, which operates as Trenitalia, would be a partner, integrating rail and air offerings. He claimed it as a way to create more jobs and to allow Alitalia to “concentrate much more on long-range flights.”
Among the expected or rumored bidders still in the running are China Eastern, Delta, EasyJet and Wizz, as well as Lufthansa, which also operates the flag carriers of Austria, Belgium and Switzerland. Ryanair, already the largest domestic carrier in Italy, was an early prospect, but said a year ago that it would not bid.
