THE Italian government said it intends to re-nationalise the bankrupt former national carrier Alitalia under an emergency economic rescue plan for the Covid-19 pandemic.

The plan’s details were outlined in a government decree published late yesterday.

Italian media reported that it could cost taxpayers up to €600 million (RM2.9 billion).

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government agreed a €25 billion rescue yesterday, designed to shield families and businesses from the economic fallout of an outbreak that has killed more than 2,100 people in Italy.

One of the measures provides for the creation of “a new company wholly controlled by the ministry of economy and finance, or controlled by a company with a majority public stake, including an indirect one” to take over the airline.

Italy’s AGI news agency said the government was setting up a €600 million fund to deal with the damage the pandemic has caused to the aviation sector.

Some of the final details of the Italian economic rescue programme are due to be finalised next month.

Alitalia has floundered in the face of fierce competition from low-cost carriers such as EasyJet and Ryanair.

However, analysts warn that it is also too small – and has too many staff for the number of flights it operates – to compete with its rivals.

It flew only 22 million passengers and saw its market share in Italy slip to 14% in 2018.

Germany’s Lufthansa and the Atlanta-based Delta Airlines each carried around 180 million passengers that year.

Alitalia’s attempts to secure rescues from either the Italian state railway Ferrovie dello Stato or Lufthansa floundered in January.

The company filed for bankruptcy in 2017. – AFP, March 17, 2020.