Word: italianizer
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...Alitalia has been in need of a shakeup for years. The company hasn't turned a profit since 1999, forcing the Italian government to set up a series of bailouts that have drawn the ire of European Union competition regulators. In December 2006, then Prime Minister Romano Prodi put the government's 49.9% share of Alitalia on the selling block. Several potential buyers pulled out, and a takeover bid by Air France-KLM was blocked by the unions and the open disdain of then opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi...
...latest offer, which had the blessing of Berlusconi, who's back in power, came from a consortium of Italian businessmen ready to invest up to one billion euros in the more profitable sectors of the company. (The money-losing units would file for bankruptcy protection.) But after unions rejected the plan, the investors pulled their offer off the table...
...There's still a slim possibility Alitalia can be saved. Air France-KLM or German carrier Lufthansa might make a new offer, or the Italian consortium could reconsider if the labor syndicates show more leeway. But the likelier scenario is that Italy's national carrier goes under for good...
...short-term consequences of that are serious: up to 18,000 employees could suddenly be looking for a job, while key domestic routes vital to the Italian economy would go underserved. In broader terms, Alitalia's demise would be yet another blow to the country's image abroad and to confidence at home. Berlusconi, who has maintained a hard line since negotiations imploded, has banked much of his credibility on resolving the crisis and keeping Alitalia under Italian ownership...
...Michele Polo, a professor of economics at Milan's Bocconi University, says liquidation may now be the only option remaining. Polo doesn't see the logic in trying to keep the airline afloat just to maintain its Italian identity, and he expects that Italy's No. 2 airline, AirOne, and foreign carriers will almost certainly fill the profitable Rome-Milan route, while low-cost carriers will jump on other Italian destinations. "The market will do its job," he says. "This kind of evolution would bring more competition." A significant number of laid-off Alitalia employees would eventually be rehired...