Alitalia faces deep cost-cuts

MILAN Struggling Italian airline Alitalia on Wednesday announced a new strategic cost-cutting plan, as it seeks to head off turbulence and return to profitability by the end of 2019.

The airline aims to cut costs by 1.0 billion euros (USD1.07 billion) and increase revenue by 30% in that time, according to the plan adopted after more than six hours of boardroom talks.

Alitalia did not lay out possible job cuts but Italian media have speculated that between 2,000 and 3,000 jobs could be slashed.

The company said only that the plan was “subject to Alitalia’s trade unions agreeing to a new collective works agreement and headcount-related measures.”

The business plan contains “radical and necessary measures across the whole of the company to stabilise it and secure its long-term sustainability,” the firm said in a statement.

Also included in the strategy are new offers on short and medium-haul routes, on which Alitalia has suffered from cut-throat competition from low-cost airlines such as easyJet.

Alitalia has been making losses for years and even a huge capital injection in 2014 by Emirati airline Etihad had failed to stem the tide.

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