Alitalia: Rinascimento
o Morte — February 2021

Four years ago, well before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, Alitalia ran out of cash and was put into short-term emergency administration. It was given a government loan of €900m, to be repaid within six months. The idea was to allow the administrators time to find a buyer for the financially-challenged Italian flag-carrier.

And Alitalia has forever been financially challenged. As the chart shows, it has reported an operating profit in only two of the past 25 years (1997 and 1998) and a net profit (benefiting from asset sales) in only four.