toltommy wrote:aemoreira1981 wrote:The airline's routes should be put up for sale with the winner also acquiring the leases on aircraft.
The routes have no value. If a european carrier wanted to open up on the same routes, I don't think there is anything to stop them under EU open skies. Given AZ's financial struggles, the aircraft leases probably are not competitive to assume. Better that the planes be returned to the lessors, and the planes leased or sold to other airlines at market rates. The employee decision is short sighted, IMO, but it is what it is. 8% probably isn't really enough to make a difference anyway. Sadly, it's past time for Alitalia to go.
The LIN operation has value but that's about it. Of course, if AZ sells off the Milan Linate operation, then you can say good-bye to the rest of the company given how the rest of the network doesn't produce enough consistent revenue to keep operating.
From a creditor perspective, carving out a LIN-based airline and spinning that off while liquidating the rest of the company is the best option. From the employee and political perspective, the best option is to nationalize. Unfortunately nationalization isn't allowed or comes with severe restrictions under current EU rules (see e.g. MA and LO).
To those talking about reorganization/pre-packaged bankruptcies: Such legal options don't exist under EU law.
This sorta reminds me of PA and EA in the US who slowly limped along after liberalization of US aviation markets under similar burdens of antiquated/calcified operating procedures and a lack of management-labor cooperation. EA met its demise earlier that it naturally would have happened because Lorenzo's management wanted to gut company and milk it causing the unions to kill the company itself in a death causing strike. PA kept cutting off pieces until it finally couldn't survive a (historically mild) recession. In both cases, newer and stronger competitors circled waiting to pick up share and pieces (huge chucks of DL come from the demise of both). I'm not sure which fate AZ will face but either one is very possible.