Alitalia

News that AirFrance has pulled out of their Alitalia bid must surely start people wondering whether Italy needs an airline at all. It has always had union troubles (it used to be that all the staff had to live in Rome, and were flown up to Milan and back every day!) and indeed failure to obtain union assurances was one of AF-KLM’s reasons. But there are others.

Alitalia loses money, its planes are out of date, the baggage handling is awful and it is impossible to use it for business because its timekeeping is so erratic.

It is being kept going as a matter of pride, but it is a pride that Italy can no longer afford.