Staggering lay-offs in the works for Alitalia

The Italian flag carrier and its soon to new private sectors owners may have a fight on their hands, now that it appears as though as many as 3,250 jobs will be cut in the near future. Italy’s labour minister indicated that these staff cutbacks were unavoidable, if the airline is to become profitable again. As a thin silver lining in increasingly dark clouds, the minister did suggest that not all job cuts would affect Alitalia employees, but that some position would also be axed at AirOne, a privately-owned Italian airline which will merge with the newly privatized Alitalia.

Italian officials are currently negotiating with union representatives in an effort to arrive at an amicable understanding. Union representatives may actually be more open to massive job cuts, considering that the flag carrier is now in bankruptcy protection and failure to privatize it within the next couple of months would likely lead to its final demise. As we reported on earlier this year, the hostility that Italian unions demonstrated towards an Air France-KLM bid to purchase the carrier ultimately led to the collapse of what most analysts saw as a fair and positive offer for the badly indebted airline, which loses nearly €2 million each day. Government authorities are now explaining to union leaders that under the current restructuring plan, Alitalia would likely cut its losses and break even within two years.

Thank you to the Associated Press for the initial report.

www.alitalia.com