Alitalia to be renationalised under broad emergency decree

Italy’s govt has indicated that it will renationalise struggling Alitalia as part of a broad set of emergency measures in response to the coronavirus outbreak. The govt says, in a decree published March 16, that the epidemic is being formally recognised as a “natural disaster and exceptional event”. It states that, given the damage to the entire aviation sector resulting from this event, public-service measures will compensate and allow the continuation of activities. “The establishment of a new company is authorised, entirely controlled by the ministry of economy and finance,” it adds, in reference to the situation facing Alitalia and its regional CityLiner division, both of which are in extraordinary administration. <br/>