Alitalia saved by the Government and reborn as ITA Airways

[regi]

Poor Regi, his nightmare is not gone..

Hm, small misunderstanding, it is not my nightmare because I have stated - DEFINITELY - never ever to fly Alitalia again.

I repeat the words of late Frank Zappa: "The torture never stops". I wonder if he wrote this song after a tour in Europe...

Flies all green and buzzin'
In this dungeon of despair
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzc5vW9Ze44

[sn26567]

Air France-KLM has second thoughts about investing again in Alitalia. It means that there are problems in getting 300 million euros from current and future shareholders. It also means that AF-KLM's shareholding will be diluted and so will its influence in the decision process at Alitalia

A bad omen!

[airazurxtror]

Alitalia pilots and C/C will be on strike on 29 october from 10 to 14 h.

http://www.mit.gov.it/mit/site.php?p=scioperi
http://www.travelnostop.com/NEWS_dettag ... olo=109562

[ExSabena]

An other strike is also foreseen in november !

[sn26567]

Air France-KLM has second thoughts about investing again in Alitalia.

Air France-KLM has given Alitalia until Nov. 14 to agree to strict conditions that must be met before it participates in the Italian carrier’s capital increase.

“We will help Alitalia, but under very strict industrial, social and financial conditions,” Air France-KLM chairman and CEO Alexandre de Juniac said, speaking at the group’s third-quarter results conference. “If these conditions are met by Nov. 14, we can consider a strengthening of our partnership. If not, we will not follow.”

De Juniac insisted Alitalia must be run as a “normal business” and subjected to a “strong restructuring.” Air France-KLM’s prerequisites include Alitalia shrinking its medium-haul network, stabilizing its long-haul flying and completely restructuring its debts.

More from ATW online

[sn26567]

Aeroflot to the rescue? According to Italian press agency AGI, Alitalia is preparing preliminary talks with Aeroflot (or any other "strong international partner" for that matter) after Air France-KLM expressed reluctance to participate in the capital increase without stringent conditions.

[sn26567]

Air France-KLM will not participate in a capital increase at Alitalia on Friday, according to the website of French newspaper Le Figaro. Earlier, on October 31, Air France had already written down the value of its existing 25 percent stake in Alitalia to zero.

Alitalia shareholders have until midnight Thursday to decide whether or not to participate in Alitalia's 300 million euro cash call.

If Air France-KLM refuses to participate, its 25 percent stake will fall automatically to 11 percent.

[Flanker2]

Arrivederci! AF/KL are incompetent for a large part and have their own problems. Having them breathing down their neck also closed many options for AZ. Overall, it's good news as someone else will show up with the brief case full of money anyway.

[tsv]

Aeroflot to the rescue? According to Italian press agency AGI, Alitalia is preparing preliminary talks with Aeroflot (or any other "strong international partner" for that matter) after Air France-KLM expressed reluctance to participate in the capital increase without stringent conditions.

I just don't get why Airlines (and other Companies) invest in other Airlines. They rarely make any money from their Investment and are usually asked to put their hands in the pocket every couple of years to put up more capital else their share is diluted.

Why oh why would Aeroflot want to invest in Alitalia? The chances of them suddenly becoming profitable are about the same as the Loch Ness Monster turning up at my house for Dinner tomorrow night. So it's really a donation, not an investment.

Is there some amazing Political reward to be gained by saving Alitalia?

[herethereanywhere]

I really like AZ but this stuff ain't funny anymore!
It reminds me of what happened with Olympic Airways ten or so years ago.

[sn26567]

Things start to look really bad for Alitalia:

1. Air France-KLM will definitely not subscribe to the 300 million euro capital increase: they argue that the indistrial plan is OK, but the financial restructuring measures are insufficient; Air France-KLM will nevertheless remain a loyal partner of Alitalia.
2. Aeroflot has ruled out helping Alitalia in any way.
3. The Alitalia board has postponed by two weeks (until 27 November) the deadline for the shareholders to participate (or not) in the capital increase. How much will the airline be able to get from the shareholders, and will that be sufficient to save the company?

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

Touht the 500 million was confirmed, a 300 million share increasement and the 200 million new loan..
They published for first a positive result...
Wasn't this the case...
We already knew AF-KLM let drop their shares to ten percent... Russia rulled out helping az...
Poste Italiane confirmed helping..
Was this not enough to help AZ in short period...
Are are we shouting beyong next year??
Can we expect a demise soon now, even with the confirmed raise of 500 million?
Mmm.. Worried about my AZ tickets for March
CXB

[quixoticguide]

"The disappearance of Air France jeopardizes the participation by the Italian Post Office which was confined to that of the French."

According to the Fatto Quotidiano newspaper.

[brusselsairlinesfan]

"The disappearance of Air France jeopardizes the participation by the Italian Post Office which was confined to that of the French."

According to the Fatto Quotidiano newspaper.

Wow... these are quite "booming" news! There is nothing but bankruptcy if the Italian Post decides not to invest in Alitalia... so what is gonna happen after Nov., 27th if the situation doesn't change?

[sn26567]

After the refusal of Air France-KLM to subscribe to the capital increase (thus reducing its share of Alitalia from 25% to 7%), the Italian government has approached sovereign funds from the United Arab Emirates in a desperate search for funds. One of the airlines from the region has already said it was not interested...

What next?

[sn26567]

Alitalia is working on a stand-alone plan to transform its fortunes, given the absence of a foreign partner airline, according to a report in the Il Sole 24 newspaper. But the private shareholders in the airline are willing to cover the necessary capital increase.

Alitalia will anyhow have a difficult task with the massive expansion of Vueling at Rome Fiumicino. Most of the new Vueling routes compete directly with Alitalia.

Good luck: it's never a pleasure to see an airline go belly up.

[me109]

a capital without a restructuring has no sense. Beside the fact that there is a major problem in the organization of Alitalia the Italian trade unions also influence the survival of Alitalia

[cathay belgium]

Hi,
I agree the unions don't like the loss of jobs...
But can they and will they deal with the loss of a whole company..
This time there won't be another Alitalia bis!
Vueling,Ryanair,Emirates,Easyjet.. are willing to take over..
Also LH Air Dolomiti can take a bit if...
Just like Wizz filled the Malev gap...
Think before you act unions!

CXB

[cathay belgium]

Hi,

It's 27 november..
What can we expect now..
FR offer for feeding a pax at 50 eur/pax domestic was rejected by the AZ board..

CXB

[sn26567]

Alitalia received less than two thirds of the 300 million euros cash it was seeking and now expects to raise the rest from the state-owned postal service and other investors.

Alitalia said today that it had received 173 million euros by the deadline for existing shareholders to subscribe to its rights issue, including guarantee payments made by Italy’s two largest banks Intesa Sanpaolo and UniCredit .

It expects to sell the rest of the shares in a second phase. Italy’s state-owned postal service, which the government brought into the rescue plan last month, will invest 75 million euros and the airline hopes to convince other investors to stump up the remainder.

With 700,000 euros of daily losses and net debt of 800 million euros Alitalia could soon have to ground its planes.

The failure to fully cover the capital increase illustrates that Alitalia's investors have doubts that the carrier can be turned around.