Shareholders in troubled Italian airline approve special administration step

Shareholders in Italy's troubled flagship airline Alitalia unanimously approved the request to put the company under a government-selected administration body, the board of directors said on Tuesday.

The move came amid efforts to save the financially-strapped airline and avoid its liquidation, after workers rejected a proposed rescue plan in a referendum last week.

Alitalia's shareholders "noted with deep regret the outcome of the referendum among employees," which means the airline is unable to implement its restructuring plan, the board of director said in a statement.

The restructuring plan was considered a pre-condition to injecting two billion euros (2.18 billion U.S. dollars) to recapitalize the company.

It would have brought about the layoff of some 980 employees instead of the 1,338 originally proposed by the company, and cut the wages of flight crews by eight percent.

However, two thirds of the proposed cost reduction would have been unrelated to labor costs, according to the board of directors.

The plan had been brokered by the company and the unions with the help of the Italian government, but was rejected by some 67 percent of the 11,600 employees eligible to vote.

Now the government is expected to appoint three special administrators -- or commissioners -- to manage the crisis by providing a new industrial plan, and seek new buyers for a possible takeover of the company, or a partial sell-off, in order to avoid bankruptcy.

The extraordinary administration is to last six months, Italian Economic Development Minister Carlo Calenda told local media last week.

The board of directors said that Alitalia's flight schedule would continue to operate as planned during this phase.

Alitalia is partially owned by Etihad Airways -- the national carrier of the United Arab Emirates -- through a 49-percent stake acquired in 2014 to save the company from bankruptcy. Italian shareholders, including Italy's two largest banks UniCredit and Intesa Sanpaolo, control the remaining 51 percent stake.

Alitalia's fleet consists of 121 aircraft and it transported 22.6 million passengers in 2016, according to the company. The airline has been struggling to stave off bankruptcy for years. Endit