The name Alitalia cleverly juxtaposes the words for wings and Italy. AliFrancia or AliGermania do not have quite the same ring. But now the flag carrier is about to lose its wings – and largely because Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister, vowed to keep it Italian.

Six months ago the entrepreneur-turned-politician blocked an offer from Air France-KLM and ran his campaign on a promise to find a patriotic buyer instead. Having been elected, he duly did so, by changing a few laws here and there and handing a cleaned-up, debt-free Alitalia on a silver platter to Cai. This group of Italian entrepreneurs and bankers were subsequently dubbed ”capitani coraggiosi”, brave captains, for fulfilling their patriotic duty and stumping up €1bn. Now even Cai’s courage has failed. Obstreperous to the last, only three of Alitalia’s nine unions accepted its deal, which involved longer hours and some 3,000 job cuts, but also ensured a viable airline. Cai withdrew its offer. Now all of Alitalia’s 19,000 workers may well lose their jobs.