A revamped Alitalia will start with 45 planes, have around 4,500 workers and get just over E1b in state support, less than half of what was previously envisaged, newspaper La Repubblica reported on Tuesday. Newly-appointed Prime Minister Mario Draghi met with the transport, economy, industry and labour ministers on Monday and was pushing for a speedy resolution but not at all costs, the paper said. The cabinet office declined to comment. Under Draghi’s predecessor, Giuseppe Conte, Rome had earmarked E3b for a new airline, dubbed ITA, to replace Alitalia, which has been run by state-appointed administrators since it was declared bankrupt in 2017. According to La Repubblica, ITA will acquire all of the airline’s aviation business, including aircraft and employees, and would start before the end of April to take advantage of the upcoming summer season. Il Sole 24 Ore said the plan was to get the revamped airline flying from June 1. Daily Il Giornale said the new Alitalia might start with 43-45 planes and 2,500-3,000 employees and could get between E1-2b in state aid.<br/>
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Czech Airlines’ insolvency petition sets out the scale of the company’s financial problems, which it partly attributes to the inability to source rescue funding from the Czech government. The company has 266 creditors, with the total liability to suppliers amounting to Kc809m ($37.1m) as of 25 February, its petition to a Prague municipal court states. But the petition adds that there is a debt of nearly Kc1 billion to “hundreds of thousands” of passengers who are owed for the cancellation of flights. “[Czech Airlines] is unable to meet these obligations owing to a lack of liquid funds,” the petition states, adding that the company’s liabilities exceed the value of its assets. For this reason the [company] is also in a state of over-indebtedness.”<br/>
Korean Air priced its new shares in the country’s biggest-ever rights offering of 3.3t won ($2.94b) at 19,100 won apiece to finance the buyout of full-service rival Asiana Airlines with half of the sum. According to the flag carrier`s disclosure Tuesday, of the offering of 173,611,112 shares, 20% allocated to the employee shareholders’ association can be subscribed on Thursday and existing shareholders including Hanjin KAL Corp. assigned with an estimated 41.88m shares through 800b won financed from state lender Korea Development Bank (KDB) on the following day. Forfeited shares will be put up for public subscription on Sept. 9-10. Of the 3.3t won in new capital, 1.5t won will go to the buyout of Asiana Airlines and the rest to pay off debt. <br/>