Alitalia, the Italian flag airline, which has been on death watch for several years now, and in bankruptcy for the past 18 months, is showing signs of reviving business, with several successive months of passenger growth.
Bankruptcy trustees, appointed by the Italian government, say that volume grew 7.6% in May and 10.6% in June, and the airline’s second-quarter figures will show it broke even for the period. Since early 2017, the airline has been kept alive by Italian government loans to fund operations while the trustees try to find a buyer for all or part of the company.
That process will still continue, with a deadline for decision postponed to late October, but the good operating results may result in better terms for a sale, and will at least reduce the cost to the government in the meantime.
Known bidders are Lufthansa, a joint EasyJet/AirFrance bid and one from a U.S. private equity group, Cerberus, which once owned Chrysler. It is not know if any of the bids are for the entire airline, or whether the winning bidder would keep only part of the operation.
