Brussels, 03/10/2008 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 3 October, the European Commission confirmed it had received a complaint the previous evening from the Irish low-cost airline Ryanair against a plan to bail out Alitalia. The Irish carrier said, on Thursday 2 October, that it had filed a complaint with the Commission criticising the broad concessions made by the Italian government in favour of the company and trade unions. “The Italian government is writing off up to €2 billion in Alitalia debts and is guaranteeing the investments by the members of the consortium and underwriting huge concessions to the unions in exchange for their agreement to these ludicrous plans”, said Jim Callaghan, Ryanair's director of legal and regulatory affairs.
Ryanair also deplored the fact that earlier complaints had not been taken seriously by the Commission, something that was immediately denied by the Commission. “If Ryanair has filed a complaint, it will be treated as any other received by the Commission”, said the spokesman for Antonio Tajani, European Transport Commissioner, on Thursday 2 October.
The rescue plan of the Italian air carrier received new impetus after the consortium taking over the company, Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI), and trade unions reached, on Tuesday 30 September, an agreement on the plan for takeover of the bankrupt carrier. It mainly provides for the suppression of 3,000 jobs, extension of the duration of working time, and the merger of the Altialia flight unit with its biggest national competitor, AirOne. On Thursday 2 October, the CAI decided unanimously to formally present a final offer for acquisition of the company's air operations, as the company's non-profitable assets are to be sold off. Augusto Fantozzi, the administrator designated by the Italian government to deal with the Alitalia file, had said the previous day that the company had received an offer for all of its transport activities, as well as expressions of interest for other assets. He also said that, according to the Italian daily, Corriere della Serra, if CAI, the most likely Alitalia buyer, was going to begin running the company as of 1 November, a firm offer should be presented on 15 October and a final offer by 20 October. According to the same daily, the German airline, Deutsche Lufthansa, and Franco-Dutch Air France-KLM are each willing to buy a 15% stake in the new Alitalia company. (A.By./transl.jl)