Loading ...Air France-KLM may still have a realistic chance of buying up the Italian government’s 49.9 percent stake in Alitalia, Italy’s near insolvent national airline, despite the election of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has thus far strongly opposed the deal. There are signs today that Berlusconi is softening his stance and may be getting ready to reconsider his position, after running a campaign largely based on the promise of finding an Italian consortium of investors to buy Alitalia. Berlusconi stated that there was a possibility that the Air France deal could go through and that the French carrier, together with KLM and Alitalia, could form a “big international group with equal status among the three airlines.” Berlusconi made these statements during a news conference, shortly after being confirmed Italy’s prime minister-elect, following an impressive win in parliamentary elections this past weekend.
Talks between Air France-KLM and Alitalia have been suspended for over a week, mainly due to the continued opposition of Italian unions to a deal that would see Italy’s flag carrier shed much of its fleet, as well as trim its operations at the Milan Malpensa Airport. Berlusconi, however, is not giving up just yet, when it comes to putting together an Italian consortium that may purchase the all but bankrupt airline. The prime minister-elect half jokingly told journalists that the carrier’s new slogan might be “I love Italy, I fly Alitalia.”
Yet all jokes aside, Alitalia is rapidly running out of money and now has less than 170 million euros remaining on its account. This means that the carrier will likely go bankrupt within less than a month, if a deal is not reached. The airline produces a deficit of more than $1.6 million dollars each day it operates flights.
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