2,200 jobs to go in 'painful' Alitalia shake-up
Struggling Italian airline Alitalia will have to shed 2,200 jobs as part of its planned tie-up with Etihad Airways, which has promised to invest €560 million, the head of the Italian airline said on Monday.
Negotiations have been running for months for the Emirati airline to take a 49 percent stake in Alitalia, which currently employs 12,800 people and is facing bankruptcy.
The Italian airline will have to go through a restructuring that is "complex, tiring and painful - there is no alternative," said Gabriele del Torchio, Alitalia's chief executive, on the sidelines of a conference in Rome.
It had previously said as many as 2,500 jobs were on the line.
The airline's management hopes to finalize a deal on the company's debt by Friday. Del Torchio said talks with banking creditors were "very advanced", and that they were demanding "a sacrifice".
"I think it will take only a few weeks to conclude the deals with Etihad," he said, adding that a successful deal would send "an important signal" about Italy to foreign investors.
AirFrance-KLM also owns a stake in Alitalia, but chose not to pursue taking over the Italian airline after it could not get similar guarantees on deep restructuring to make it profitable.
See Also
Negotiations have been running for months for the Emirati airline to take a 49 percent stake in Alitalia, which currently employs 12,800 people and is facing bankruptcy.
The Italian airline will have to go through a restructuring that is "complex, tiring and painful - there is no alternative," said Gabriele del Torchio, Alitalia's chief executive, on the sidelines of a conference in Rome.
It had previously said as many as 2,500 jobs were on the line.
The airline's management hopes to finalize a deal on the company's debt by Friday. Del Torchio said talks with banking creditors were "very advanced", and that they were demanding "a sacrifice".
"I think it will take only a few weeks to conclude the deals with Etihad," he said, adding that a successful deal would send "an important signal" about Italy to foreign investors.
AirFrance-KLM also owns a stake in Alitalia, but chose not to pursue taking over the Italian airline after it could not get similar guarantees on deep restructuring to make it profitable.
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.
Please log in here to leave a comment.