Alitalia on the verge of collapse

As fuel costs skyrocket many airlines in the industry are collapsing because of the strain.  Italian airline Alitalia is the latest to be affected by the rising cost of fuel.  Starting on Monday the airline will be likely to ground their fleet because at the present time they can no longer afford to purchase fuel for their planes.  The news from Alitalia comes shortly after British tour operator XL collapsed which left around 85,000 people stranded abroad.

Meetings took place with the bankruptcy commissioner, different trade union leaders and Alitalia to come up with a plan to prevent the airline from collapsing.  The meeting did not produce any significant results.  Augusto Fantozzi who is the bankruptcy commissioner said that “There are difficulties relating to the supply of fuel, which could put some flights at risk.”  Fantozzi noted that flights were guaranteed until Monday.

Richard Branson with Virgin Atlantic noted that after these airlines collapse thousands of passengers end up stranded abroad.  It becomes the responsibility of other airlines to help return these passengers home.  Branson said that “It does seem that there should be an urgent review, if there are going to be more airlines and tour operators becoming casualties of the credit crunch, of the way in which the rescue operation is conducted. It does not make sense for aircraft to be lying idle at airports in the UK when they should be used to bring back stranded passengers.”  Branson suggests that collapsing airlines should be able to continue operation but only under the supervision of the Civil Aviation Authority. 

www.alitalia.com

www.virgin-atlantic.com