A last ditch bid to save Alitalia is expected to be launched today (September 22).
Augusto Fantozzi, the administrator appointed after the bankrupt carrier was put into receivership last month, is set to call for fresh bids.
Mr Fantozzi, who has already threatened to ground Italy”s national carrier, is likely to put a deadline of September 30 on new offers.
The new moves come after a week end of manoeuvring following the collapse of rescue talks last week.
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Augusto Fantozzi
CAI, a 16-strong consortium which had made an offer for Alitalia, withdrew after it failed to reach agreement with all nine unions at the carrier.
Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister of Italy”s centre right government, admitted over the weekend that the airline was facing bankruptcy.
Alitalia has not made a profit for ten years and is losing ”2m (”1.6m) a day.
Mr Fantozzi told journalists in Italy over the weekend: We will proceed with a public request (for offers).
"It will formalise what I have been doing - without any results so far despite all my efforts - regarding the main assets."
An announcement calling for offers is expected to be published on Alitalia”s website later today and in Italian and foreign newspapers tomorrow.
The CAI”s bid is the second time this year an attempt to save the carrier has failed.
The offer by Air France KLM also stumbled on its inability to agree with the unions.
Under the government-backed CAI bid, the consortium would have bought the government”s 49.9% stake in the airline.
It would then have merged the profitable parts of Alitalia with rival Air One to form a streamlined carrier.
The deal would have seen 3,000 redundancies and possible pay cuts for the remaining staff. The unprofitable parts of Alitalia would have been liquidated.
Visit www.alitalia.com.
Stanley Slaughter
ABTN has reported extensively on Alitalia: