The government of Italy has extended the deadline for potential buyers to bid on its national flag carrier Alitalia. Rome stated last May that it would provide a €600 million loan to keep the airline flying for the next six months, preventing the liquidation of the air carrier. Last Friday, the government of Italy announced it would add an additional €300 million to that loan package in addition to the deadline extension. The deadline for bids on the airline now stands at April 30, 2018. At this point in time, no bidders have yet come forward. Ryanair had plans to submit an offer for part of the airline, but announced on September 27 that it was dropping out to focus on internal issues plaguing the airline.
Alitalia has struggled for years with a reputation for poor service and competition from lower cost rivals. The government financial action last May followed the rejection of job and salary cuts by labor groups aimed to prevent the bankrupcy filing. Those cuts were part of a broader, 2 billion euro government rescue plan. Alitalia was last restructured in 2014, when Etihad Airways of the United Arab Emirates bought a 49% stake in the company. The financial aid that Etihad Airways had allocated to help turn the airline around has now run out, and the carrier stating that it will not invest any more money into the Italian air carrier.
Alitalia’s history began on the 5th of May in 1947, when Alitalia-Aereolinee Italiane Internazionali operated its first flight on the Turin-Rome-Catania route using a Fiat G-12. In July of the same year, it made its first international flight from Rome to the Norwegian capital of Oslo. 1950 saw the four-engine DC-4 enter service, and the airline began serving hot meals. Alitalia was the official carrier of the Rome Olympics in 1960, and for the first time carried more than 1 million passengers in a year. The Boeing 747 jumbo jet entered service in 1970, and Alitalia became the first European airline to fly an all jet fleet. The fleet renewal continued with the addition of the Airbus A300 in 1980, the MD Super 80 in 1982, and the MD-11 in 1991. Alitalia became part of the SkyTeam Alliance in 2001, joining Aeromexico, Air France, CSA Czech Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and Korean Air. A year later, the Boeing 777 started to replaced the fleets older 747 on long haul routes.
