Alitalia, the bankrupt Italian flag carrier, will soon finally have new owners, ending a more-than-two-year process of rescue attempts, failed bids, government and law changes and constant uncertainty.
The special commissioners appointed to manage and sell the airline accepted a bid from Italy’s state-owned railroad system, FS, on December 15—the deadline day for starting repayment of the government bridge loans that have kept the airline flying.
FS is now seeking alliances with the two airlines that had also submitted bids, EasyJet and Delta. The airline bidders were not guaranteed to keep Alitalia whole, a key issue for Italy’s coalition government. But since their goal is for the state to own about 15% of Alitalia through FS, the railroad is looking for the two airlines to become part owners, with EasyJet partnering on domestic flights and Delta partnering on long-haul. No details have been suggested on how those partnerships might work.
In the meantime, International Railway Journal pointed out that this is the first time since 1986 that a major railway has owned a major airline. That’s when Canadian Pacific Railway sold CP Air.
