Alitalia's administrator Augusto Fantozzi has set a 30 September deadline for submission of any expressions of interest for all or part of the carrier following the withdrawal of the offer by Italian investor group Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI).
Fantozzi this morning formally published the call for expressions of interest in a final attempt to launch a rescue for the carrier, which filed for extraordinary administration at the end of last month.
CAI, the group of Italian investors which put together a rescue plan for a large part of Alitalia, withdrew its provisional offer late on 18 September after failing to secure sufficient union support for its project. As with an Air France-KLM offer withdrawn earlier in the year, its bid was conditional on securing union support. The CAI offer was the sole bid for a significant part of the carrier - though there has been separate interest for some its smaller assets.
In light of the withdrawal of the CAI offer, the administrator says he intends to check the existence of any other interested entities that can guarantee continuity of the air transport service of one or more parts of Alitalia or its subsidiary carriers Alitalia Express, Volare and other units Alitalia Airports and Alitalia Servizi. Given the urgency of the situation, he is seeking expressions of interest by midday on 30 September.
Fantozzi is this morning meeting director general of aviation regulator ENAC, Vito Riggio, to update the Italian CAA on the situation. ENAC, which issued Alitalia, Alitalia Express and Volare with provisional licences after they entered administration, has already warned the basis for granting this licence is at risk without a near-time progress on a new financial plan. Riggio is quoted in Italian media, speaking this morning ahead of the meeting, as saying the carrier needs to have a new cost-cutting plan in place within the next three to four days or face having its licence suspended.
Despite Fantozzi earlier warning that it was facing increasing difficulties in securing the supplies needed for operating flights - which could hit flights in an unspecified period - the carrier continues to operate flights normally.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
