Faith in Alitalia?

I'm flying to Rome at the end of June, and have a choice of Alitalia
(Business) or Continental (Business-First). I'm somewhat leery of
booking AZ at this point because of their financial uncertainty. Any
sense whether their issues are likely to come to a head by next month?

Chris Bastian wrote:
I'm flying to Rome at the end of June, and have a choice of Alitalia
(Business) or Continental (Business-First). I'm somewhat leery of
booking AZ at this point because of their financial uncertainty. Any
sense whether their issues are likely to come to a head by next month?

They have already come to head. Unions have had a wild strike a week or two
ago to protect the fact that Alitalia wasn't in good shape and refusing to cut
jobs. The government has its hands tied due to subsidy limits in the EU.

Last I heard, they were thinking of splitting Alitalia in 2 or 3 companies.
They would privatize the operating company (issue stock which would give it
needed capital to survive), and keep the other stuff such as management,
reservations etc with all its debts.

However, Alitalia is burning cash and has only a couple weeks to survive
unless a deal is struck real soon.

I would not touch Alitalia with a 3 metre pole at this point in time,
especially since the unions have stranded thousands of passengers with
unschedule strike that ended up lasting longer than the union had annouced on
the first day of the strike.