Somewhat as expected, the Alitalia buyout by Air France/KLM is struggling to move forward in the face of significant opposition from Italian politicians and labor unions. The presumptive incoming Prime Minister has called the deal on the table an “arrogant French offer” and the unions have been protesting plans to outsource maintenance and other ground services tasks. Some of the protests have turned ugly, resulting in police conflicts.
In other words, as predicted, the unions are going to scuttle the whole deal, even though it is probably the only way the carrier can survive. It remains to be seen how long the government will continue to lose 1MM euro daily on the carrier, but chances of another savior beyond the AF offer are pretty slim.
What happens when that fails is harder to figure out. Either AirOne comes up with a bid, which seems unlikely to me based on the fact that the bank says they haven’t been, or the government continues to fund the company as it falls apart. The government won’t be able to effect the turnaround that the company needs.
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