Thanks for sharing this - the rumour was also reported from
Corriere della Sera days ago.
It is very unlikely that any solution going forward will get rid of the cancer which has
always been affecting Alitalia -
- The political complexity (alias involvement) behind the airline;
- The power of the trade unions, which historically rests on two solid pillars being strong membership and significant links to political parties.
Robust influence from the above mentioned factors has always prevented any concrete plan of development (and many have tried so far, including AF a decade ago, with a plan which was eventually stopped by
good-old Silvio).
Italy is amongst the most important (if not
the most important) European markets for all the big players (a swift look at the number of daily services operated by LH, BA, AF, KL and the likes from major and even minor Italian airports is enough to form an idea) and, shamefully, AZ has not been able to make the most of it (apart from a short period of time when MXP was their main hub and they had over 200 aircraft operating a more than decent network).
G