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Alitalia in Trouble?
Posted: 14 Sep 2008, 10:05
by Garry Russell
Things aren't looking good for Alitalia although it is hard to seperate hype from fact as always
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.j ... lit114.xml
Garry
Re: Alitalia in Trouble?
Posted: 14 Sep 2008, 10:15
by DispatchDragon
Garry
the fall of XL will probably see the demise of the small US carrier Xtra which XL owned a 49% share of
Leif
Re: Alitalia in Trouble?
Posted: 14 Sep 2008, 10:35
by Jon.M
Unfortunately there is a lot of hype and politics in this.
Silvio Berlusconi promised to save Alitalia and keep it in Italian hands during the recent election and a lot of government money has already been poured into the airline (probably breaching EU monopoly laws).
An earlier offer to buy Alitalia by a consortium of Air France and KLM failed as much because of political difficulty of selling the national airline to foreigners as anything else.
Alitalia was very inefficient when it was in government hands and has not improved much over the last few years.
It is not economically viable as it is and it currently seems unlikely that the unions will agree to the necessary downsizing and economies.
I think Alitalia is a dead duck.
Jon
Re: Alitalia in Trouble?
Posted: 14 Sep 2008, 10:44
by Garry Russell
Hi Jon
I does seem to be back to the wall with no way out
The Politics and the unions are fighting to try and keep is essentially as it is when it has to change or die :brick: .....well maybe it's too late now
Others that may have taken it on now have problems of their own and anyways now is just not the time
Garry
Re: Alitalia in Trouble?
Posted: 14 Sep 2008, 11:00
by Jon.M
It's still possible that something can be saved I suppose, but I believe that it would be about as worthwhile as British Leyland was.
Jon
Re: Alitalia in Trouble?
Posted: 14 Sep 2008, 11:05
by Garry Russell
Worthwile Jon..if only for the name
But it has to be different.obvious as it fails in it's present form.
But those involved just don't seem to want to change and no one is going to take it on withought changing everything,
The name would be all that was left :think:
Garry
Re: Alitalia in Trouble?
Posted: 14 Sep 2008, 11:49
by DaveB
Saw this on the news yesterday. A bit off when a national carrier is suffering the same as the small fry. It was reported yesterday that the Italian government would do what it could to stop Alitalia going under. Another aquisition by Mr Branson perhaps :o Nah!
ATB
DaveB :tab:
Re: Alitalia in Trouble?
Posted: 14 Sep 2008, 12:18
by Garry Russell
The governement if they do will no doubt stand back as long as they can hoping someone else will step in
But when it comes to turning the light off.........
Garry
Re: Alitalia in Trouble?
Posted: 14 Sep 2008, 12:31
by DispatchDragon
The one thing I dont understand is the surprise expressed - Lets see Sabena , Swissair , Pan Am , Eastern, TWA, Braniff 1-2-3-4-5 etc etc
Why is a long lived airline any different to an upstart when its badly managed and unionised?
Leif
Re: Alitalia in Trouble?
Posted: 14 Sep 2008, 12:41
by Prop Jockey
Its a shame - the airline seems to be suffering a slow painful death. I remember the days when Malpensa was nothing but Alitalia aircraft, thesedays its an Alitalia ghost town. Perhaps those standing in the way of a solution can compare some then and now pics and reflect on the trend :-(
Cheers
Rich