The AUA mother Lufthansa checks the entry into Alitalia. Managers of German airlines have these days talked to Vice Minister of Infrastructure Armando Siri, reported the Milan business newspaper „Sole 24 Ore“ (Saturday edition). Lufthansa is working on the dossier with advisor Merrill Lynch, the paper reported.
The three special commissioners Alitalias will close next week the examination of the binding offers and declarations of interest for the airline. They will then report their conclusions to the government in Rome. Binding offers were submitted ten days ago by the Italian State Railways and the US airline Delta. A declaration of interest arrived from EasyJet.
The airline with its approximately 11,000 employees has been writing losses for years. In May 2017, Alitalia filed for bankruptcy following the failure of a recovery plan that provided for wage cuts and job cuts. Since then, the airline flies with a bridging loan from the Italian government. Originally, a solution was to be found by the end of April this year, but the deadline was extended to the end of October.
