Italy mulls Alitalia rescue plan with Lufthansa help: report

Italy's new government is considering taking control of bankrupt national airline Alitalia as part of a plan that would include a capital raise from Lufthansa, national news media reported Friday. "Alitalia is moving towards the sale of assets first to the state and then to Lufthansa," according to a report in La Repubblica daily. The Italian airliner filed for bankruptcy in 2017, hurt by competition from budget fliers such as Easy Jet and Ryanair, and is now managed by government administrators. Previous efforts to find possible partners, including Germany's Lufthansa and US carrier Delta, have failed. In May, Italy pledged to relaunch the airline, re-nationalising it and injecting at least E3b as part of a broader economic rescue package in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Brussels has been considering whether loans paid by Rome to prop up the loss-making airline represent unfair competition to other carriers. On Friday, La Stampa newspaper reported that Alitalia head commissioner Giuseppe Leogrande had asked for an additional E150m to keep the airline afloat. He said he would need the additional funds to pay staff salaries for February, the newspaper reported.<br/>