To save Alitalia an agreement with the Americans is better than Delta or with the Germans of Lufthansa? This is the alternative facing the state Railways e Atlantia, the two partners of the newco that should attempt the bailout of the airline before that the commissioners of Alitalia are forced to go to the bankruptcy court. But it is an alternative which, as Corriere della Sera revealed yesterday, does not exclude twists and turns, such as the possible renunciation of any negotiation by the Americans of Delta, who did not like the upward game induced by the entry of Lufthansa on the scene.
For now, the only certain thing is that Alitalia continues to lose and that taxpayers must continually open their wallets to finance the luxury of a country that allows itself to have an airline despite having almost never had its accounts in order and despite the liberalization of the skies offers many other alternatives on the market for those who have to fly.
Il Sole 24 Ore has tried to do some calculations and they are calculations that make you shiver because, in two and a half years of commissioner management, Alitalia lost 900 thousand euros a day, burning the beauty of 30 million euros in 837 months that lead to 9,2 billion the cost that Alitalia has inflicted on the State in 45 years. But there is more: without a new public intervention, in December, Alitalia's cash register ran out.
This is why, if you don't want to face bankruptcy, you have to act quickly and, assuming and not granted that the negotiations with Delta and/or Lufthansa go ahead, you have to decide which path to take.
But let's see in detail what the possible partners of the Italian airline offer, barring further second thoughts.
DELTA
If the American company does not withdraw, it would be ready to enter the capital of the newco immediately investing 100 million euros and arriving later at 120 million. The redundancies of the plan that Delta has in mind amount to approx 2.500 unit, almost half of those assumed by the Germans.
LUFTHANSA
The Germans have not yet decided whether to limit themselves to a commercial agreement with Alitalia or enter the capital. They will decide it in next Thursday's board of directors. In any case, at best, they would be willing to invest in everything 150 million but in two tranches, of which 100 immediately (like Delta) and 50 in a second phase. The redundancies of the plan that the Germans have in mind, however, are greater and could arrive at 5 thousand units.
It's not an easy choice but time is short because November 21st is the deadline for submitting the binding purchase offer for Alitalia and the risk of bankruptcy is just around the corner. But, as things stand, the least that can be said is that the situation remains confused.
