Italy is currently the country with the most cases of COVID-19 outside of mainland China. Therefore, Alitalia, the Italian flag carrier, has been even more impacted due to the virus. Therefore, the Italian goverment said on Monday that it will take full control of the airline, and will help them as losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic is combined with the financial difficulties it previously experienced. 

The airline has previously stated losses since the early 2000s, as investor airline Etihad Airways decided to invest in the airline. However in 2017, the airline pulled out of Alitalia and decided to no longer provide funds for them. Therefore, the government has been looking for a new buyer, with a deadline of May 31. Now that the virus is adding more losses to the airline, Italy has decided to abandon the original plan and come up with a plan to rescue the airline. 

What is their Rescue Plan?
The Italian government has decided to renationalize the flag carrier and provide Alitalia 600 million euros of additional funding. As a result, they are planning on creating a business that will be managing Alitalia.  However, the country's aviation industry is quite the challenge. Weeks ago, we saw Air Italy's dreams of taking over Alitalia crushed, when they declared bankruptcy and ceased operations. Alitalia is also at a high risk of falling under as well, and we could no longer see an Italian carrier operating long-haul out of Italy. 

Now I want to hear from you. Will we potentially see Alitalia fall under? Can the government go through their plan? Or, will they abort the plan? Let us know in the comments!