Italy state railway discusses Alitalia rescue plan delay

MILAN (Reuters) – Italy’s state railway Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) said on Monday its board had met and looked at the idea of a possible delay to the deadline to submit a rescue plan for ailing carrier Alitalia.

The airline has been under special administration since 2017 when workers rejected the latest in a long line of rescue plans. Rome is desperate to orchestrate a rescue to avoid mass layoffs.

FS, which has been spearheading the Alitalia rescue efforts, has until Tuesday to find investors ready to inject fresh funds and revamp the airline.

The railway group has been hoping to create a transport consortium to offer consumers a one-stop shop for travel inside and outside Italy.

Both FS and U.S. carrier Delta Air Lines (NYSE:) are ready to contribute to a new rescue bid worth around 1 billion euros (864.5 million pounds), but there is still a shortfall of around 400 million euros.

Asked whether FS had already presented a request for a postponement to Tuesday’s deadline, the company declined any further comment. Alitalia also declined to comment, while Italy’s government had no immediate comment.

FS had already asked for a two-month extension to an initial end-March deadline earlier this year but was only granted a one-month postponement after special commissioners running the carrier said it was in danger of falling into liquidation if no rescue package was forthcoming.

Once FS submits a request for a further delay, the commissioners and Italy’s industry ministry will need to take a decision on the matter.

British budget airline easyJet (LON:) withdrew from Alitalia rescue talks last month, while state-controlled Poste Italiane and defence group Leonardo said they were not interested.

Sources have said that transport group Atlantia might seek to join the rescue consortium to try win favour with Rome and secure the future of its own domestic business following a deadly bridge collapse last year, but so far no official proposal has been made.