Alitalia is the proud national carrier of Italy since 1947. Its name and logo are internationally known, it has a fleet of 179 aircraft, about 20,000 employees, and a global network of routes covering five continents. Unfortunately it lacks profits, and worse than that, it has been bleeding money for a long time and it is about to run out of cash. In today’s gloomy airline market Alitalia’s future seems not only bleak, but threatened.
Vultures have been encircling the airline already for years and the 49% state owned airline has been on the block for a while. The problem is that the interest for the loss generating airline has been lukewarm at best. The Air France – KLM Group has, however, seriously been considering an acquisition or merger. The prospect of a French-Dutch takeover has even given former (perhaps also future) prime minister and megalomaniac Silvio Berlusconi the demagogic opportunity of insisting on keeping Alitalia Italian.
Now mr. Berlusconi should be happy since major news organizations and Alitalia have reported that the merger talks have collapsed due to union problems.
It might be that Alitalia will never go into foreign ownership, but instead it is increasingly likely that it will not be able to survive, at least not in its present form, as it is running out of cash and the Italian taxpayers get tired of paying for its losses.
We have seen other proud airlines quickly evaporate before. Swissair used to be the national carrier of Switzerland and was considered one of the best airlines in the world, until it suddenly was grounded in 2001.
Alitalia Press Release (warning pdf file)