Alitalia

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Associated Press
Alitalia board member quits, saying government underestimates crisis
Friday April 16, 11:10 am ET


ROME (AP) -- An Alitalia board member has resigned, saying he felt that both the Italian government and the unions have underestimated the airline's crisis, the company said Friday.
Roberto Palea offered his resignation Thursday evening -- soon after the government announced it was postponing a decision on an emergency decree aimed at helping the airline sector and saving Alitalia from possible bankruptcy.

Palea told Alitalia that he felt "the government, unions and other concerned parts don't have adequate understanding of the seriousness and urgency of the situation," according to a statement released by the airline Friday.

Palea also lamented the fact that the company's strategy wasn't being set by its board of directors -- a situation that he said made his job "useless and ineffective," according to the statement.

Alitalia has achieved an operating profit only once in the past 11 years, and is calculated to be losing about euro50,000 per hour ((US$62,400). It is trying to improve its financial health in the hope of joining an alliance formed by Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines -- an alliance analysts say is key to Alitalia's survival.

Alitalia's former chief executive, Francesco Mengozzi, quit the company last month after clashing with unions and the government over proposed job cuts aimed at restoring profitability. Mengozzi had put forward a rescue plan that would have shed 2,700 of Alitalia's 21,300 staff.

But Premier Silvio Berlusconi's government, keen to avoid a clash with unions ahead of key European and local elections in June, refused to back the plan. Unions have staged a series of strikes in the past few months to oppose the job cuts, forcing the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

Alitalia's board is scheduled to discuss a watered-down version of the rescue plan, with fewer job cuts, next week.

The government, which has a 62 percent stake in the company, is planning to help Alitalia through its decree by financing its temporary layoff scheme, cutting taxes on air fuel and overfly rights, and by reorganizing the Italian airport system, news reports said.

However, it needs to be careful not to violate European Union competition rules on state aid.
 
Xmmmm oti theloune as kanoune, arkei na kanoun to dromologio Venizelos - Fu Man Tsu kai epistrofh ton allo mhna. Prwth fora paw Romh, lete na mou katsei apergeia??????? :shock:

Kostas
 
How Italy Is Grounding Alitalia
It won't let the floundering carrier make desperately needed cost cuts

To many observers, Alitalia seems like yet another state-owned European carrier destined for extinction by shutting down, dwindling into irrelevance, or selling out to a more muscular carrier. After all, that's the fate that befell Sabena and Swissair -- both gone -- and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, which Air France took under its wing on May 4.

Alitalia, meanwhile, lurches from one crisis to the next. On May 6, after strikes brought Italy's flag carrier to the brink of collapse, the government ousted management and deferred plans to cut 5,000 jobs. In exchange, unions agreed to a moratorium on strikes. Alitalia can't hold on much longer, though. It has burned through more than $600 million since January. Analysts say a reserve of $240 million will last until fall. As a midsize airline, it loses out to megacarriers Air France, Lufthansa (DLAKY ), and British Airways (BAB ) on long-haul routes, while discounters such as Ryanair (RYAAY ) and easyJet Airline draw customers on shorter flights.

Alitalia's condition doesn't have to be fatal if the state relents and lets the carrier make the cost cuts that could enable it to prosper. Despite the conventional wisdom that most of Europe's established carriers are doomed, well-run regional airlines still have a place in Europe, where travel habits are often shaped by history, language, and tradition. By cutting costs and focusing on profitable niches, a number of midsize flag carriers are emerging from the global aviation downturn in surprisingly strong shape.

Austrian Airlines, a partially privatized carrier, trimmed its workforce of 8,000 by 10% and cut pay and benefits. It also expanded routes in Eastern and Central Europe and set up a low-cost operation in Bratislava, Slovakia. Analysts expect Austrian to report operating profits of $60 million this year, up from $5 million in 2003, on projected sales of $2.5 billion. Its shares are up 70% since January. "The Austrian Airlines group is now firing on all cylinders," Chief Executive Vagn Soerensen says.

What about other carriers? Scandinavia's SAS Group is expected to return to profitability after slashing more than $1.8 billion in costs since 2003. Ireland's Aer Lingus, repositioned as a no-frills carrier, posted a 30% rise in operating profit last year. Spain's Iberia Airlines, restructured before it was privatized in April, 2001, has been profitable ever since.

Alitalia, by contrast, is a mess. Its pilots average fewer than 500 hours a year in the air, vs. 600 to 700 hours at most European carriers. More than half its 170 planes are aging McDonnell-Douglas models that cost more than twice as much to maintain as newer planes, according to the Milan-based Bocconi University Center for Research on Regional Economics, Transport & Tourism. The bottom line: Alitalia's costs are 30% to 40% above those of most European flag carriers. "It's patently obvious that Alitalia can't survive with its current cost structure," says Nick van den Brul, a BNP Paribas analyst in London.

What's next? European Union rules forbid a bailout. Officials suggest selling more shares to investors, but who wants part of an airline that has seen three restructuring efforts founder on opposition to job cuts? Certainly not Air France, which rebuffed Alitalia's request that it be brought into the KLM merger.

Yet a properly restructured Alitalia could work. One approach: spinning off a "new" Alitalia with the cream of the fleet, a few thousand staff, and a focus on profitable routes. The remainder of the company would be doomed -- an unpleasant prospect. But thriving in smaller form beats extinction.


By Carol Matlack
 
mhn stenaxoriesai an katsei apergia .
opos eipame tha se steiloun romh pou na skasoun .
bebaia kai se ti ypallhlous tha peses .
 
Associated Press
Italy Guarantees Loan to Rescue Alitalia
Tuesday June 22, 4:32 pm ET
By Alessandra Rizzo, Associated Press Writer
Italy Agrees to Guarantee Short-Term Bridge Loan in Bid to Stave Off Bankruptcy at Alitalia


ROME (AP) -- The Italian government agreed Tuesday to guarantee a short-term bridge loan in a bid to stave off bankruptcy at the state-controlled airline Alitalia.
The announcement was made at the end of a Cabinet meeting at Premier Silvio Berlusconi's office in Rome.


"It's the first significant step to reach the important goal of restoring the finances of Italy's flagship airline," Deputy Transport Minister Mario Tassone told reporters after the meeting.

Tassone did not disclose the amount of the loan, but the Italian news agencies ANSA and AGI said it totaled 500 million euros ($605 million).

The state-guaranteed bridge loan is the only type of aid that might have been allowed under European Union rules. EU officials said that Alitalia could be eligible to receive rescue aid in the form of a bridge loan repayable within a maximum of 12 months.

Alitalia has achieved operating profit only once in the past 11 years. The airline has been looking for ways to improve its financial status to win a place in an alliance formed by the merger of Air France and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. Analysts say joining the alliance is key to Alitalia's survival.

In late April and May, the carrier was plagued by a series of strikes that grounded some 1,500 flights and affected financial results.

The airline's loss widened in the first three months of the year to 190 million euros ($224 million) from 173 million euros last year. Its net debt increased by 194 million euros ($228 million) to 1.63 billion euros ($1.92 billion).

Last month the government, which owns 62 percent of Alitalia, signed a six-point accord with unions and named Giancarlo Cimoli, who turned around Italy's state-run railway, as Alitalia's new chairman and chief executive.

Also last month, the airline approved a preliminary turnaround plan that included the spinoff of its ground and service operations, as well as the bridge loan guaranteed by the government.
 
i alitalia elabe telia ena danio 400 ek eur apo to italiko kratos, tora pos tha sothi i eteria einai allo thema kathos to proto eksamino 2004 i zimia tis eterias eitan 330 ek eur. to shedio horismou tis eterias like olympic airways and airlines meletate akoma
 
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