COMPANIES How do you create a small, viable airline? You take a large, chronically unprofitable one, scale it down by shutting some 150 flights a day from a dysfunctional hub, cut operating costs by reducing the workforce and change the conditions of employment, inject €1.5bn ($2bn) in fresh equity and attract a strong international industrial partner to help it fly again.
In a nutshell, this seems to be the outline of the latest business plan due to be put formally to Alitalia's board on Friday by Maurizio Prato, the airline's third chairman in six months. What are his chances of success? The short answer is: slim, if any.
