has Alitaila gone?

[Matt275]

I am hearing conflicting reports that alitalia dont have enough money to buy fuel and therefore have grounded all their aircraft, is this true and if so then is it the first national airline to go down.

[garryrussell]

Don't know about Alitalia but several national carriers have failed in the past

[garryrussell]

This is the latest I can find

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.j ... lit114.xml

[expat]

Alitaila went bust a couple of weeks ago, this is just the last tritches.
Insolvency

Matt

[Mictheslik]

To be fair Alitalia have been going bust for decades......

There's talk of relaunching with a smaller, more common fleet and a more sensible route structure.....

.mic

[Tom...]

Government giving them Another chance....

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7612159.stm

[homebrewer]

Is Alitalia a private enterprise or a government-run thing? The pathway to the answer may lie right there...

[VVM]

i believe the gov't own 49.9% of ailitalia...or something like that.

[Ivan]

Is Alitalia a private enterprise or a government-run thing? The pathway to the answer may lie right there...

EU rules dont allow government owned national airlines. but with berlusconi any business construction is possible

[expat]

Is Alitalia a private enterprise or a government-run thing? The pathway to the answer may lie right there...

EU rules dont allow government owned national airlines. but with berlusconi any business construction is possible

I think that the French need to clarify the rules too

Matt

[Ivan]

Is Alitalia a private enterprise or a government-run thing? The pathway to the answer may lie right there...

EU rules dont allow government owned national airlines. but with berlusconi any business construction is possible

I think that the French need to clarify the rules too

Matt

With the french... you dont buy planes, you buy landing rights in paris

[C]

On Thursday, a consortium withdrew a rescue offer for Alitalia due to opposition from trade unions.

Don't you just love trade unions. Fine, of you don't want a takeover that could save the airline, let it go bust! Is it me, or do they not want a job?

Odd people.

[expat]

On Thursday, a consortium withdrew a rescue offer for Alitalia due to opposition from trade unions.

Don't you just love trade unions. Fine, of you don't want a takeover that could save the airline, let it go bust! Is it me, or do they not want a job?

Odd people.

In this climate, I have to be a bit heartless and say better them than the company I work for. Cheap flights are all well and good, but the industry was reaching saturation point and there are only a set number of passenger to go around. Also it is typical of some European countries (France and lower down) to let a company that has only made debt for the last 10 years to continue working the same business model throwing money out the window because a socialist-ish government will bail them out and bend/ignore EU regulations. Don't misunderstand me, I do feel for the average man who may/will lose his job (a very good friend works for a company that had a huge maintenance contract for the Alitaila ATR fleet and he is feeling the pinch due to the loss of the contract), but the Alitaila story has to come to an end. When you cannot afford fuel, you cannot afford maintenance and it will only be time before something falls out of the sky. Then and only then will start to ask how and why they where allowed to continue flying.

Matt