Caso Alitalia (seconda parte)

Air Silvio

(From The Wall Street Journal Europe)
April 4, 2008

It’s rare for a politician to spark a serious crisis before he’s even won office. That’s what Silvio Berlusconi has done with Alitalia. If, as expected, he wins a third term as Prime Minister next weekend, Mr. Berlusconi will deserve every headache Italy’s flag carrier brings him.

Alitalia is bleeding about €1 million a day and may not survive the summer unless restructured. Rome wants to get things started by selling its 49.9% stake in the airline. But Air France-KLM, the only serious bidder, walked away from the table Wednesday. The Franco-Dutch carrier said labor-union demands would have made it impossible to restore Alitalia to profitability soon. EU regulators have ruled out another public bailout.
The unions wouldn’t have had much leverage here if it weren’t for Mr. Berlusconi. The center-right leader has railed against the Air France-KLM bid during the campaign. He says that Italian businessmen are lining up to help rescue Alitalia – though he refuses to identify them. “We have touched on the pride of a healthy and competitive flagship,” he said in an interview that Libero newspaper published yesterday.
If his mysterious white knights are as numerous as Alitalia is “healthy and competitive,” then the airline’s employees and customers are in for a disappointment.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120726121624287697.html

Berlusconi politics allow unions to delay an overhaul at Alitalia

Word Count: 1,015 | Companies Featured in This Article: Alitalia, Air France-KLM, Eni, Knight Capital Group, UBS
ONLY AN EXORCIST can save cursed Alitalia SpA. That is what Maurizio Prato, the stricken Italian airline’s departing chairman, said after talks with Air France-KLM SA broke down. The French carrier walked away after Alitalia’s unions refused to accept 2,100 job cuts.
Alitalia doesn’t really need an exorcist. It needs a restructuring like the one Air France was contemplating. Italy’s government, which owns 49% of the airline, saw that. But the unions had no incentive to accept job cuts, once opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi — in a naked bout of electioneering in advance of this month’s general election — pledged …

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120725817914987689.html