Berlusconi certain that Alitalia will recover

Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s newly minted prime minister, told legislators and the public in general yesterday during one of his first speeches as the head of government that he is quite certain of Alitalia’s recovery. The country’s national airline is badly in debt, has all but run out of funds and generates a loss of one million euros each day that it operates flights. Berlusconi said that he would work to find a solution for the carrier, which would avoid having to sell it off at a low price, and he would also aim to resist renationalizing the company, even though he was the one who originally raised this as a threat, when the EU criticized Italy for providing the cash-strapped carrier with a loan.

The Italian government currently owns 49.9 percent of Alitalia shares and has been looking to sell its stake since last June. A serious bid on the part of Air France-KLM, however, fell through, due to the resistance of Italian union officials and Berlusconi’s own reluctance to sell the carrier to non-Italian interests. Since then, Berlusconi has argued that he would find an Italian consortium of investors to purchase the airline, but a serious and firm bidder has yet to surface. Forbes Magazine argues that the Italian prime minister may be forced to backtrack on his original pledge to keep Alitalia in Italian hands, and there are reports that he may be willing to consider an Aeroflot bid for the carrier.

Alitalia has enough money to keep flying in the interim, now that it has received an emergency loan from the Italian government, worth €300 million.

www.alitalia.com