The President of Alitalia, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, officially communicated to the President of Enac Vito Riggio the decision of the Board of Directors of the airline to start the procedure for the appointment of the Commissioner. This was reported by the National Authority
for civil aviation. “ENAC – reads the note – has taken note that, at the moment, the conditions exist for maintaining the flood
operations of Alitalia, over which the Authority will continue to maintain its institutional supervision on the basis of current European legislation".
So the first post-referendum maneuvers have begun. The workers voted No to the unions-Government agreement on Alitalia, decisive for the green light to the new industrial plan of the airline, which in order to be financed by the banks instead awaited a positive response from the referendum which was voted on from 20 to 24 April , with the mass participation of almost 90% of those entitled, including pilots, flight attendants and ground staff.
Therefore, once the recapitalization hypothesis has faded, the only viable way now remains that of the commissioner, which the board of directors of the former national airline will be forced to approve in an extraordinary session.
This morning, Alitalia's top management started the necessary process "given the impossibility of proceeding with the recapitalization, the company's board of directors decided to initiate the procedures established by law and called a shareholders' meeting for 27 April at order to deliberate on the same". This is what we read in the note issued by the group.
The "procedures procedures established by law" are nothing more than the hypotheses of receivership or liquidation of the company. From the same press release we learn that the board of directors convened today "recognized with regret the decision of its employees not to approve the meeting report signed on April 14 between the company and the trade union representatives".
The approval of the minutes would have released a capital increase of two billion, including over 900 million of new finance, which would have been used to relaunch the company. In a second press release Alitalia specifies that the program and the operations of the flights "will not undergo changes at the moment". Furthermore, according to the company, "for now there will be no consequences on flight operations".
Disappointment on the part of Etihad, a shareholder of Alitalia with 49%, for the outcome of the referendum. The company led by James Hogan will support the decision expressed today by the board of directors to refer the opening of the legal procedures to the assembly. "We deeply regret the result of the vote, which means a defeat for all: Alitalia employees, its customers, its shareholders, and the country itself," said James Hogan, chairman and chief executive officer of Etihad Aviation Group. of which Alitalia is an ambassador throughout the world'. The refusal, through the referendum, of the preliminary agreement "is profoundly disappointing".
Alitalia, for the second time in its history, proceeds towards liquidation. Despite the government's push, the internal referendum leaves no room for action. On the contrary, with the go-ahead to the agreement between the unions and the company, the five-year plan presented in March would go ahead, a project which, through a drastic cut in salaries and jobs, aimed to secure the accounts over the next three years in view of its latest relaunch. Which now won't be there.
The No of the flight crew was decisive, in Milan as in Rome, where the No was largely the majority. The more than 12 Alitalia employees have therefore expressed their opposition to the agreement and now the company's future appears increasingly marked. It is no coincidence that the government met yesterday afternoon to talk about the carrier crisis: Prime Minister Gentiloni and ministers Delrio, Padoan and Calenda took part in the emergency summit.
