Lufthansa, easyjet among bidders for ailing Alitalia

Germany’s Lufthansa and British budget airline easyjet are two of seven companies that have bid for Alitalia on Monday, but the process to rescue Italy’s ailing flag carrier is likely to drag out until late next year.

Alitalia, which has made a profit only a few times in its 70-year history, was put under special administration earlier this year after staff rejected a plan to cut jobs and salaries.

Seven envelopes were delivered by a deadline to submit binding offers for parts or all of the airline on Monday, Alitalia said in a statement, but no further details were provided.

It was unclear whether any of the offers were for the whole airline. Both Lufthansa and easyjet said they were only interested in parts of it.

This may not find favor with Rome, which wants to sell the airline in one block to minimize the impact on its 12,000 employees.

Rome has ruled out renationalizing Alitalia, an airline that was once a symbol of Italy’s postwar economic boom but is now struggling to compete at home against low-cost carriers and high-speed trains and has not invested sufficiently in the higher-margin long-haul routes to get back to profit.

Lufthansa did not provide details of its offer but said it included plans for what it termed a new Alitalia “which could develop long-term economic prospects.”