The Alitalia chief executive Gabriele Del Torchio will leave his post in October, following Etihad’s acquisition of a 49 per cent stake in the troubled airline.
“Mr Del Torchio will step down,” an Alitalia spokeswoman told The National, confirming a report by the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore. “If everything goes as it should, in October there should be a new management for Alitalia.”
“The new shareholder structure will be 51 per cent owned by Italians and 49 per cent owned by Etihad.”
This month, Etihad Airways acquired a 49 per cent stake in the debt-laden carrier in return for a €560 million (Dh2.72 billion) investment in an overall deal worth more than €1.75bn that will involve a three-year rebuilding exercise and rebranding of Italy’s national airline.
Alitalia, which was delisted from the Italian stock market upon its privatisation in 2009, has no plans to be listed again.
“At the moment nobody is thinking about the listing of Alitalia. The most important thing is to turn it to profit,” said the spokeswoman.
Plagued by million-euro losses, Alitalia received a €500m bailout from the Italian government last autumn. At the time the airline was losing €1.5m a day and had debts of €1bn.
Last year, Alitalia approached Etihad after major shareholders Air France and KLM refused to provide more capital and reduced their holding to 7 per cent from 20 per cent.
“The Air France-KLM shareholding will not change,” said the spokeswoman. “However, Intesa and Unicredit will eventually exit the company.”
Currently, Intesa Sanpaolo and Unicredit hold 20.59 per cent and 12.99 per cent of Alitalia respectively, according to the airline’s website.
Meanwhile, Mr Del Torchio told the Italian newspaper that it would not be “moral” for him to accept his bonus, after the thousands of employees had lost their jobs at his company. After long negotiations, Mr Del Torchio convinced Italian unions to agree to the Etihad deal this month.
Some 1,635 Alitalia jobs are expected to be lost, but some staff will be re-employed in Abu Dhabi.
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