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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| Consortium withdraws Alitalia bid | Consortium withdraws Alitalia bid |
| (9 minutes later) | |
| The business consortium proposing to rescue Italian airline Alitalia has withdrawn its offer in the face of union opposition. | The business consortium proposing to rescue Italian airline Alitalia has withdrawn its offer in the face of union opposition. |
| The CAI consortium had given the nine unions until 1400GMT to accept the deal, but not all of the unions agreed with the terms of the offer. | |
| Five of the unions had said they were opposed to the CAI proposal because it would involve 3,000 job cuts. | |
| There are now fears Alitalia could go into liquidation. | There are now fears Alitalia could go into liquidation. |
| It has already warned that it is running out of funds to buy aviation fuel. | It has already warned that it is running out of funds to buy aviation fuel. |
| Cancelled flights | |
| Italian Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi said before the deadline that the future of Alitalia was "hanging by a thread". | |
| While Italy's four main union organisations - CGIL, CISL, UIL and UGL - had signed up to the agreement with the CAI consortium, five other unions had rejected the deal as "useless and provocative". | |
| Those opposed to the package - SDL, ANPAC, UP, ANPAV and Avia - include pilots and cabin crews. | |
| Their protests forced Alitalia, which is losing 2.1m euros ($3m; £1.7m) daily, to cancel 40 flights on Wednesday. | |
| Under the CAI rescue proposal, the Italian consortium had put forward a 1bn-euro offer for the airline. | |
| It wanted Alitalia to merge with Air One, the country's second-largest airline, while its 1.2bn-euro debt would be absorbed by a second firm, which would then be liquidated. | |
| Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to do all he can to save Alitalia, in which the Italian government holds a 49.9% stake. | |
| In April, plans for the airline to be taken over by France-KLM collapsed when unions refused the accept the terms of the deal. | |
| Alitalia suspended trading in its shares in June and filed for bankruptcy protection last month. |