The Alitalia brand costs too much. This can be summarized as the result of the auction that put the brand of the former flag carrier up for sale to a minimum price of 290 million euros. According to what was revealed by the Corriere della Sera, in fact, the commissioners would not receive no binding offer by the established deadline (14pm on Monday 4 October). Not even Ita, the new company that will take the place of Alitalia from 15 October, taking off with 52 planes and 2.800 employees, has come forward.
The president of Italia Trasporti Aereo Alfredo Altavilla, on the other hand, had anticipated it. The required amount, according to him, was “unrealistic” because “it makes the investment uneconomical. A brand that has characterized a company that has lost three and a half billion at an operational level in 11 years cannot be worth so much”. An assessment also shared by Ryanair, which in recent days withdrew from the race to purchase the brand because it "because it has no commercial value" and also confirmed by some external experts who, in the context of the appraisals carried out, assessed the Alitalia brand 140-150 million euros, half of the auction base established by the commissioners.
And now what to do? Barring last-minute surprises, the process continues with the second phase of the award to which will also be admitted lower binding offers to 290 million euros. Even if the second attempt goes wrong, the commissioners would have nothing left to do but go ahead with the sale of the brand "without procedural constraints towards the economic operator they have identified", explains the tender. Roughly speaking, it would pass to a private negotiation, probably with Ita who at that point could come back into the game by offering a figure considered "fair" by the company. Operations on the Alitalia brand, according to what has been established, will have to be completed by the end of the year.
In the meantime, protests by Alitalia employees continue. The table with the unions to close the Cigs procedure until September 4 is scheduled for today, Tuesday 2022 October, at the Ministry of Labour.
