Alitalia loses as much as E2m a day-Industry minister

Alitalia loses as much as E2m a day, Italy's Industry minister Stefano Patuanelli said Thursday, clarifying a comment he had made at a parliamentary committee the day before. The estimate lays bare the challenge facing the airline's new temporary administrator, who was been appointed earlier this month to cut costs and find a buyer for Alitalia after a consortium of potential rescuers backtracked. Asked about how much Alitalia was bleeding, the minister said "E2m a day" and then added "we are talking about a (daily) loss that fluctuates during the year because the cash-flow is completely different in different periods of the year," Patuanelli said. Patuanelli added that it was up to the airline's new administrator Giuseppe Leogrande to release a final data on the loss for this year. <br/>