Italy will not pour more taxpayer money into Alitalia: Minister

An Alitalia airplane is seen before take off from the Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy - Reuters

ROME (Reuters): Italy will not pump more public money into Alitalia, Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli said on Saturday, warning that the troubled airline could shut down by mid-2020 without a buyer.

Alitalia, which is losing EUR 2 million ($2.2 million) a day, was put under a new temporary administrator this month after a consortium of potential rescuers backed out.

Patuanelli was quoted as saying by Italian newspaper Il Messaggero that he had signed off a further loan of EUR 400 million this week to keep the loss-making carrier in business.

“This is really the last state intervention for Alitalia,” Patuanelli said adding that either a buyer was found by mid-2020 or the company “would shut down”.

The Minister dismissed the possibility of the loan being considered illegal state aid by the European Commission.

“We will change the Alitalia brand and the company’s structure,” Patuanelli said, without elaborating.

Industry analysts calculate Alitalia, which went through two previous rescues in 2008 and 2014, has already burned through roughly EUR 9 billion in taxpayers’ money