Alitalia finally appears ready to take off under new ownership, hoping to find a profitable niche in domestic and especially international markets. The relaunch will be led by a consortium of Italy’s state-owned railways, the Ministry of Finance, Delta Airlines and Atlantia, a major infrastructure operator.
For nearly four years it has been drifting along on a series of government bridge loans, and a sea of rumors about new financing and new buyers. In the end, it will be owned by a consortium of two Italian government agencies and two private companies, with the Italian government holding 50% of the shares.
FS was designated as the lead for the effort last year, but was reluctant to go in without partners, and it has now announced its choice of partners, although not their actual number of shares. Most of the world’s financial press expects that FS and Atlantia will each hold 35%, while the Ministry and Delta will each have 15%. The government has said the final solution would leave it with majority control.
Alitalia is expected to now concentrate on profitable international routes and to cut many unprofitable services, probably with job losses and fleet reductions. It long ago lost its dominant role in domestic aviation to Ryanair.
The role of Atlantia comes as a surprise to many in Italy. The company, largely owned by the Benetton family of clothing-store fame, holds contracts for operation and maintenance of Rome’s airport and much of Italy’s autostrada system, and has been blamed for poor maintenance leading to the 2018 Genoa bridge collapse. The head of the Liga, one of the government coalition partners, has sworn to end that contract, but has apparently agreed to the Alitalia deal.
