Alitalia facing collapse but still accepting bookings

The latest in a series of attempts to save financially-distressed Italian flagship airline Alitalia from collapse has been rejected by some of the carrier’s labour unions, and the investor group CAI, responsible for the plan, has withdrawn its offer.

The Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, stressed that the carrier is “facing the abyss” because of the collapse of the deal, and Alitalia officials are calling the potential failure of the carrier a “catastrophe for Italian society.”

Despite its looming failure, Alitalia is continuing to accept passenger bookings, and the carrier’s website is running a promotion targeting British customers.

At this time, Alitalia has cash of €30-50 million remaining in the bank, but as it requires €70 million each month to operate, time is clearly running out. In addition, the carrier is losing approximately €2.4 million each day it operates.

If Alitalia fails, as many as 30,000 employees will either directly or indirectly lose their jobs, and as many as 15,000 of its passengers at any given time could be left stranded in countries around the world.

The deadline for unions to respond to the deal presented by the investor group was 15:00 UK time on 18 September.

Six of the unions representing the airline’s employees rejected the deal, resulting in the withdrawal of the plan by CAI. The deal called for tougher working conditions and 3,000 job cuts.

Shortly before the investor group announced that it was pulling out of negotiations, the Italian transport minister, Altero Matteoli, issued a warning: “There is no alternative – if we don’t sign today, we are facing bankruptcy.”

www.alitalia.com