Alitalia, sources Palazzo Chigi: government irritation over Atlantia's hesitations

• Alitalia, extension to October 15 for binding offer Fs

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"Common irritation" has emerged, according to a ministerial source, against Atlantia at the government summit on Alitalia held this afternoon at Palazzo Chigi with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the ministers concerned by the dossier. The summit was also convened following the letter sent by Atlantia to the Ministry of Economic Development, which expressed doubts about the company's relaunch plan.

At today's meeting table, defined as "brief and interlocutory", Economic Development Minister Stefano Patuanelli, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri and Culture Minister Dario Franceschini and Transport Minister Paola De Micheli.

So the Alitalia game reopens. The consortium between Atlantia, Fs, Delta and Mef now seemed a done deal, but the friction between future shareholders, especially on this side and across the Atlantic, are leading to a reshuffling of the cards, risky for the very survival of the team. To throw the stone in the pond was Atlantia who, in a letter sent to the Ministry of Economic Development, expressed all her doubts about the recovery plan of the company currently under discussion, even going so far as to envisage a withdrawal from the consortium in the absence of an intervention of the government to rebalance the roles among the protagonists in the field, in practice on Delta.

From Atlantia, commitment to relaunch, current plan only for rescue
A plan that aims at re-launching and not just saving Alitalia. This would be one of the key points made clear by Atlantia during the meeting that took place this morning between the potential partners of the newco. According to what has been learned, in fact, the managers of the infrastructure group would have reiterated their willingness to work on a business plan that would serve to re-launch the national airline, signaling however the different problems of the current plan which, instead, would only aim at a rescue .

The current plan, in particular, would commit cash for 4 years, at the end of which it would not be clear how to achieve a rebalancing of costs and the achievement of break-even.

Then there is the Delta node. The other obstacle still undissolved would be the unavailability of the US airline to modify the flight agreements on the North Atlantic routes, which would be highly penalizing for the national airline. The members of the table will develop in the coming hours a short list of issues still open and issues to be solved and will send it to the Mise in the coming days.

Cordata will send Mise a list of open problems
The consortium that should give life to the relaunch of Alitalia, that is the one formed by Fs, Atlantia and Mef with the contribution of Delta, will send to the Mise a list of problems still open, some of which can be overcome and others not, for the realization of the project. This, as far as we learn, was decided today during a summit by the advisor Mediobanca. The problems range from the role of Delta, still considered insufficient, to the company's working capital after the operation, up to that of redundancies. Once this list of issues still unresolved has been sent, the Government could take action to give the maximum possible support for the implementation of the operation. For their part, according to what has been learned, the extraordinary commissioners will send a letter to the Government to represent the situation.