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Alitalia flies into the sunset

Catherine Deshayes

National Italian airline Alitalia is on the verge of collapse as rocketing fuel prices force the company to slash 3,000 jobs.

Alitalia was once a symbol of Italy's postwar boom, but has endured a rocky few years of late, suffering from political interference, labor disputes, financial woes and soaring fuel prices.

Alitalia SpA's nine unions will meet today to forge a plan to help rescue the airline.

Yesterday, Monday September 15^th, thousands of Alitalia workers took to the streets in protest against the airline cutting jobs and possibly ceasing operations because of a lack of affordable fuel.

If a new merger deal is not agreed upon, the airline, which is currently operating under a bankruptcy commissioner, will be forced to fold.

Under the rescue proposal the Italian consortium has put forward a £800 million offer for the airline.

Alitalia would merge with Air One, the country's second largest airline, and its 1.2 billion euro debt would be absorbed by a second firm, which would then be liquidated.

The new Alitalia will employ about 12,500 people including 1,500 pilots, 3,300 cabin staff and 7,650 technicians, workers and managerial staff.

Although for now, the airline is continuing to operate as normal, and four unions have signed a deal with CAI, a consortium prepared to invest in a new national Italian airline, five other unions still oppose the deal, with the main opposers being pilots and cabin crews.

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to do all he can to save Alitalia. The Government owns half of the company.

In April, Alitalia's unions dropped a deal to sell the airline to Air France- KLM.

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