It seems as if nothing ever follows a straight line in the history of Italy’s flag-carrier airlines. ITA Airways, the state-owned successor to the failing-for-years-before-failure Alitalia, is once again in limbo as its planned sale was interrupted by the collapse of Italy’s coalition government.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi, whose government had hoped to finish a sale of most of the new airline’s stock to private interests this summer, is still in office, but as head of a caretaker regime which is not sure if it is authorized to complete the sale before the September 25 elections, and it is unclear whether a new government will want to move ahead either.
Before the sudden and unexpected collapse of the coalition, it appeared that there was clear sailing for a confirmed bid from shipping giant MSC, based in Italy and German carrier Lufthansa. The plan included Italy holding 20%, Lufthansa 20% and MSC 60%. A second bid, from an American finance company aligned with Air France/KLM and Delta was also received but considered an unlikely candidate.
