Alitalia could be grounded in days

Italian aviation authorities on Monday warned that Alitalia could be grounded within days if no deal is reached to sell the bankrupt airline.

Alitalia's bankruptcy administrator said the airline's chances for survival looked bleak.

"There are no prospects for a rescue in a reasonable time," Augusto Fantozzi told reporters.

Without a rescue plan, the national civil aviation body, ENAC, may be forced to ground the airline, the agency's chief, Vito Riggio, said after meeting with Fantozzi.

"By Thursday, Alitalia's bankruptcy commissioner must come up with a credible plan to avoid the revocation or suspension of the flight license," Riggio said. ENAC officials would then take two or three days to study the plan, he said.

ENAC said in a statement later that any rescue plan must be "realistic," and that the agency is monitoring Alitalia's safety situation daily.

The agency said Fantozzi himself might seek the suspension of flights if no concrete deal materializes.

"For the time being, flights are regular, the financial situation is difficult, but we will wait until next week before taking any decision," Fantozzi told Associated Press Television News.

ENAC wants to verify the airline can fulfill European Union requirements, such as having enough money to ensure refueling, maintenance and safety.

Fantozzi told reporters that this month's payroll, due Sept. 27, will use up much of what little cash Alitalia has left.

Italy's transport minister had already warned that Alitalia might not be flying by next week if unions didn't agree to an offer by Italian investors to buy the airline's potentially profitable assets. The investors withdrew their offer last week.

Some unions have accepted the rescue plan, which calls for some 3,250 layoffs among the airline's 19,000 workers, the elimination or reduction of loss-making routes and the sale of many aircraft. But some, including pilots' representatives, rebuffed the deal last week because of objections to the layoffs and reduction in routes, and the investors withdrew the offer.

Fantozzi asked in a notice on Alitalia's Web site Monday if anyone else "able to guarantee" Alitalia's operations might be interested in acquiring any or all the airline's divisions.

Alitalia was close to being acquired by Air France-KLM this year. But Premier Silvio Berlusconi, while campaigning for office, promised he would keep Alitalia "Italian," and boasted he would line up Italian investors to acquire the company. Unions then rejected Air France-KLM's terms.

The rebuffed Italian plan would split Alitalia in two, with the potential profit-making part joined to Alitalia's largest domestic competitor, Air One.

The investors' group, known as CAI, is led by Piaggio chairman Roberto Colaninno. It promised to inject 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) into the new company. Unprofitable assets would be liquidated.