Italian Government Plans Full Takeover of Alitalia
The Italian government is close to taking full control of Alitalia as it is forced to abandon plans to find a buyer for the national carrier. The government would take control of both Alitalia’s aviation and land operations through a public vehicle, the report on the Italian newspaper Il Messaggero said, adding the plan would be implemented “in a short time”.
Previously, May 31st was set as the deadline to complete the sale of Alitalia, which has been continuously losing money for years. Reuters reports that the airline is running out of cash, despite an extra 400 million euro injection decided by the government at the beginning of the year. The sale process was already difficult, even more so now with coronavirus causing a huge drop in demand for travel in general.
