Let's hope that the Arabs of Etihad really arrive (how many times have the company and the Minister of Infrastructure Lupi already taken for granted an agreement that doesn't exist yet?) but for now the figures are coming and for Alitalia they are thrilling. Despite the reserve of the company which does not reveal the budget, "Il Sole 24 Ore" revealed today that Alitalia's 2013 losses are record-breaking: around 560 million, which brings the deficit accumulated over 1,5 years to 5 billion euros. Basically, Alitalia has done even worse than when the company was public. In other words, Alitalia loses the beauty of 25,3 million euros a month.
This is why Alitalia is in a hurry to enter into a strategic agreement with Etihad Airways to avoid bankruptcy and in fact yesterday the board of directors authorized the company's top management to conclude the negotiations which will take about a month, barring surprises. There are still many knots on the table: from over 2.200 redundancies to debts that the banks are not yet fully willing to restructure as the new Arab shareholder would like, who will take over 49% of the new Alitalia.
