Berlusconi’s French Connection

Well, he has billions, virtually runs every aspect of Italy, and claimed that he wanted to save Alitalia for Italy, even if, after all the tooing-and-froing, one of Alitalia’s original suitors, namely Air France, mysteriously appears to have fallen back into favour.

Yes, that archetypal Italian, Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi, has decided to hand over part of Alitalia to the French.  Strange in a way, because many Italians are not great fans of those who hail from the land of snails and h’orderves, but then what do you expect from someone who appears to shun Italian cars?  And I bet you can’t guess what make one of Berlusconi’s first cars was. … Continue Reading

Alitalia the Zombie Airline

A bit like some recalcitrant zombie, Alitalia just will not lie down and die.  The stuttering saga of Italy’s national airline wobbles on, and does not appear to be coming to an end.

The undead Airline which dear old Berlusconi promised to save from becoming, horror of horrors, foreign,

is still as strike prone as ever it was.

Heaven only knows how much it is costing Italy’s taxpayers to save the corpse of this behemoth. … Continue Reading

Alitalia RIP?

Things are not looking at all good on the Alitalia Italian national airline front.

Intransigent Italian unions have refused to back down in negotiations aimed at saving Italy’s beleaguered national carrier.  The net result is that everyone who works for the company will probably lose their jobs.  Nice move unions!

It looks as though Alitalia’s planes will soon be heading for the clouds one last time.

Is this then the last word? … Continue Reading

Alitalia’s Never Ending Story

After having fallen through back in July last year, talks concerning saving Italy’s ailing national airline have been resurrected.

Belusconi’s predecessor, Romano Prodi had had a go at pulling Alitalia out of the mire.  And failed.  Berlusco, who made the salvation of Italy’s national airline one of his election priorities, is also having a go.  He made great play of the fact that he and a few fellow Italian industrialists would band together and keep Alitalia Italian.

This nationalistic breast beating probably went down quite well with Italy’s voters, even if Berlusco was only really voted back in because the lot that hover on the left were not doing a fat lot.

The Alitalia issue has once again boiled to the surface, and articles on how the airline is to be saved from bankruptcy are all over the press. … Continue Reading