For the rescue of Alitalia contacts between the Government e Atlantia. The swerve by the executive risks being an obligatory move, because it is now clear that a joint intervention by Railroads and Delta – so far the most concrete hypothesis – would not be sufficient to fully cover the capital of the airline, even if the State converted all the money lent to the airline into shares. On the other hand, the Government also wants to avoid giving in to pressure from Lufthansa, which to save Alitalia demands the complete exit of the State from the capital and above all wants a heavy redundancy plan.
Hence the decision to change course. In the past, the Benetton family holding company – which controls, among other things, Aeroporti di Roma – has already intervened twice in favor of the airline, losing quite a bit of money. This time the financial prospects are not better, also because Alitalia continues to lose market share at Fiumicino airport, but any agreement would have an important political value, because would allow Atlantia to re-establish relations with the Government, still minimal after that the collapse of the Morandi bridge in Genoawhich took place last August. In essence, Atlantia could agree to sacrifice part of its turnover to protect its most productive business, that of Autostrade per l'Italia, to which the 5 Star Movement would like to withdraw the concession.
The problem is that you have to run: in two months Alitalia will have to repay the bridging loan, otherwise Brussels will open an infringement procedure for state aid.
The government has no time to waste also because the European elections will be held on 26 May and the Minister of Economic Development, Luigi Di Maio, cannot go to the polls with Alitalia close to cracking. The grillino political leader has invested a good deal of his political credibility on this dossier, pushing in recent months for the passage of a controlling share to the state and the creation of a consortium that should have also included EasyJet, which however in the meantime has is withdrawn from the game.
The negotiation is not simple, also because Atlantia's management may not be willing to negotiate after the repeated attacks on Castellucci by the 5 Stars. For this reason, the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, may decide to handle the matter himself.
“We will shortly hold a meeting at Palazzo Chigi because we have to close that dossier – the head of government confirmed on Tuesday – The competent ministers, in particular Minister Di Maio, with the involvement of the Minister of Economy are working on it. It is a very complex dossier, which requires a plurality of sensitivities and skills, including that of Transport. For the conclusions we will certainly have a table at Palazzo Chigi. We want to relaunch the national airline, but we want to do it with an industrial plan and we are working on this”.
Meanwhile, on Thursday the unions will have an informal meeting with the extraordinary commissioners of the company. And they are already threatening a new mobilization if the Government does not summon them as soon as possible to involve them in the negotiation.
SECURITY UPDATE TRAINING
No talks took place between Atlantia and Ferrovie dello Stato regarding participation in the rescue of Alitalia. The president of Atlantia, Fabio Cerchiai, told the Reuters agency on the sidelines of Cerved's annual meeting.
“There have been some technical meetings between ADR and Ferrovie dello Stato because ADR manages the Alitalia hub airport – he explained – but no talks about what we read in the newspapers. I don't know of any meeting."
