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Alitalia is preparing for special administration proceedings after workers rejected its latest rescue plan, making it impossible for the loss-making Italian airline to secure funds to keep its aircraft flying. Workers on Monday rejected a plan to cut jobs and salaries, betting the government will be asked to call in an administrator to draft an alternative rescue plan. Alitalia has been bailed out by Italy and private investors repeatedly over the years but Italy's industry minister on Tuesday ruled out nationalisation and public funds for the carrier. The airline, 49%-owned by Abu Dhabi's Etihad Airways, has made a profit only a few times in its 70-year history and, with around 12,500 employees, is losing at least E500,000 a day. The airline said after a board meeting it would "start preparing the procedures provided by law" and a person close to the company said the board would seek shareholder approval to request the appointment of a special administrator. "It is not an option but a must," the person said, adding, "The board ... can only do what it has to do." The administrator would assess whether Alitalia can be overhauled or should be wound up, before preparing industrial and financial plans for a rapid revamp, either as a standalone company or through a partial or total sale. If all else fails, it could trigger liquidation. Alitalia's flight operations remain unchanged for now, the company said in a statement.<br/>

Antonio Amoroso, an Italian transport union official, emerged from a building at Rome’s Fiumicino Airport this week holding a piece of paper that could seal the collapse of Alitalia, the country’s flag carrier. On it was a handwritten tally of votes from the airline’s nearly 12,000 employees, showing that they had overwhelmingly rejected a deal mediated by the government nearly two weeks ago to cut salaries and jobs in exchange for a new cash injection from private investors to save Alitalia.  “The Arabised Alitalia has failed,” said Amoroso, referring to the 2014 agreement which made Etihad, the UAE-based carrier, a 49% shareholder in the company. “We are asking the government to reopen talks to find a different solution,” he added. Amoroso is betting that overwhelming political pressure will lead Rome to proceed to another taxpayer bailout of the Italian airline, which has been around since 1947.  For decades, successive Italian governments have propped up Alitalia as a matter of national pride and political survival, ploughing an estimated E7b into it since the 1970s despite the fact that it rarely turned an annual profit. At each critical juncture, the sequence has been familiar: mounting concerns about the financial viability of the airline, halfhearted or botched restructuring and privatisation plans, management shake-ups, strikes by angry employees and last-ditch rescue talks.  But this time may be different. The Italian government, led by centre-left prime minister Paolo Gentiloni, has ruled out the nationalisation of Alitalia, and warned that Monday’s vote was its last chance for survival. On Tuesday, Alitalia’s board said that the airline’s recapitalisation was now “impossible”, convening a shareholder meeting for April 27 to pave the way for the airline to go into administration. This means it will either be wound down or sold. <br/>

By Russian standards, the news conference on Tuesday was unusual: an airing of grievances by two female flight attendants who had taken the rare step of suing Aeroflot, the country’s flag carrier, for age and sex discrimination. The event took a bizarre twist, however, as two men defending the airline interrupted the proceedings to upbraid the two employees, talking about one’s breast size, and undercutting repeated assertions from Aeroflot that it had not discriminated by arguing that attractive flight staff were important for business. Both sides focused on what they said was a move by Aeroflot in 2016 to enforce weight guidelines for its cabin staff, suggesting that women fit into a maximum clothing size of 48, equivalent to a 14 in the United States. Men were allowed somewhat more weight, according to an independent union representative. The two women, Evgeniya V. Magurina and Irina N. Ierusalimskaya, who sued separately, said they were barred from international flights, losing a significant chunk of their potential paychecks, because their clothing sizes were larger. (Magurina said hers is 52.) Magurina told the news conference that she wanted to know why her “professional success” was tied to her clothing size. The two women — one of whom had worked for the airline for 26 years — lost their initial court cases and had called the news conference to announce they would appeal.<br/>

Terminal 3 of Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten will be open for Garuda Indonesia international flights from May 1. Six gates are prepared for the national flag carrier’s planes. The very first international flight is scheduled to fly at 6:10 a.m. to Singapore, marking the shift of all Garuda’s flights to Terminal 3 from Terminal 2, said state-owned airport operator PT Angkasa Pura II’s operation and technical director Djoko Murjatmodjo on Tuesday. "We will only open the main building of the terminal for the international flights. That's why it will be only for Garuda Indonesia aircraft," Djoko said. The shift of all international flights to Terminal 3 is still awaiting the construction of Pier 1 and Pier 2, expected to be completed in July or August, he said. Terminal 3 is equipped with 65 immigration counters and 30 auto-gates in both the departure and arrival areas. The terminal also has 17 parking stands for planes, including room to accommodate three large planes like the Airbus A380.<br/>