Alitalia will return to be being
Italy's national flag-carrying airline, Transport Minister
Danilo Toninelli said Wednesday.
Speaking on Italian radio, Toninelli said "the Italian nature
of the airline is a fundamental points in its future".
He said "we'll once again make it become a flag carrier with
51% of the share capital in Italian hands and with a partner
that will make it fly".
Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio said "I will work
to make sure that this company has a future".
Lufthansa and EasyJet are among the bidders for the troubled
airline, but both want radical restructuring as part of their
bid.
Alitalia was put into extraordinary administration last year
after workers voted against a restructuring plan.
Di Maio said last week that the new government will punish
the people to blame for the plight of Alitalia, the former
flag-carrier that is in extraordinary administration and the
State is trying to find a buyer for.
"The government is analysing all the economic information
because we want to identify and punish those responsible for the
current situation," Di Maio told the Senate.
He said that he had had no talks with potential buyers
Lufthansa and EasyJet.
Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said last month "we will not
sell off Alitalia cheap, in bits and pieces".
He said "tourism is our oil and we cannot not have a strong
flag-carrier".
Di Maio and Salvini are the leaders of the two partners in
Italy's populist government.
The labour and industry minister is the head of the
anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) and the interior
minister is leader of the anti-migrant Euroskeptic League (L)
party.
They are both deputy premiers to the premiership pick who
was originally selected by the M5S for another ministry, Premier
Giuseppe Conte.
Toninelli is a leading member of the M5S.
Alitalia is expected to post over three billion euros in
revenue in 2018, special commissioner Stefano Paleari said last
month.
"By 2018 Alitalia is highly likely to exceed 3 billion in
revenue", said Paleari, one of the commissioners handling the
extraordinary administration of Alitalia.
He stressed that the carrier is "the first in Europe for
punctuality thanks to the people who work there, who need
investments and a strategic position" on the market.
In April the European Commission opened a probe to see if the
900-million euro bridge loan granted to Alitalia by the Italian
state constitutes prohibited State aid to industry.
Brussels "at the moment is of the view that the State loan
might constitute State aid," a statement said.
The EC fears that "the duration of the loan, which goes from
May 2017 at least until December 2018, surpasses the maximum
duration of six months envisaged by the guidelines on rescue
loans," and that the loan is not limited to the minimum allowed.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
