Bids close at Alitalia

Published: 14/05/07

The Italian government has officially put a stop to any more businesses entering the bidding process to take control of loss making Alitalia in a move that will put to an end any hopes that the airline had of being rescued by either Lufthansa or Air France.

A consultation period between the various bidders including Aeroflot and Milan based AirOne will take place over the next few weeks before the Italian government sells the majority of its stage in Alitalia to the group with the highest bid and most stable plans for the future of the airline.

Alitalia has suffered enormously with labour problems over the last few years, which have brought the airline to its knees. Analysts agree that the carrier is massively overstaffed, but thanks to the strength of the unions in Italy, every time Alitalia management have tried to sack members of staff, a strike breaks out that cripples operations for a week.

It is thought that which ever group buys the airline, which offers flights to Rome from London will be forced to make many staff redundant with enormous costs.

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