Alitalia calls April 27 shareholder meeting as future hangs in balance

The board of Alitalia has convened a shareholder meeting for April 27 to discuss the company’s future – including placing the Italian airline into administration – after workers rejected a rescue deal in a vote on Monday.

In a statement on Tuesday, Alitalia directors said they had noted the outcome of the referendum with “regret”, since it made a planned €2bn recapitalisation of the country’s flag carrier “impossible”.

Alitalia said shareholders – including UAE carrier Etihad, Italian banks UniCredit and Intesa, as well as Atlantia, the infrastructure group – would meet to “deliberate” on the next steps on Thursday.

The Italian government – led by centre-left prime minister Paolo Gentiloni – has ruled out intervening to rescue Alitalia with taxpayer funds. Officials close to the situation say the most likely option is that Alitalia, which has been lossmaking for years, will be placed into administration, so it can be wound down or shrunk and sold as a whole or in pieces. Alitalia added that there would be no changes to its schedule for the time being.