Alitalia vents fury as Wind Jet talks collapse
Alitalia's discussions to take over troubled budget operator Wind Jet have descended into acrimony, with the Italian flag-carrier accusing the smaller Sicilian-based airline of failing to meet obligations for finalising the acquisition.
In a long statement Alitalia describes the acquisition talks as having "failed", despite its willingness to amend and renegotiate terms.
Disintegration of the takeover effort comes as Wind Jet struggles to restore service reliability after it was threatened with grounding by the Italian regulator over delays and cancellations. Wind Jet has suspended its Internet site and could not immediately be reached for comment.
Alitalia says there is "no more room" for further discussions with Wind Jet, given the uncertainty involved in pursuing the acquisition.
It claims Wind Jet did not provide, by an initial 29 June deadline, enough documentation regarding its financial position which would have enabled a clear assessment of the company's value.
Absence of these documents made the takeover "very risky" but the flag-carrier says it nevertheless spent weeks renegotiating agreements - talks made more complicated by a "detrimental" set of requirements in mid-July to clear anti-trust concerns.
While Alitalia says it approved a new acquisition agreement on 7 August, based on the airline's assuming higher risks, it claims Wind Jet communicated on 9 August that it could not fulfil the obligations from this arrangement.
Alitalia also says it remained unclear over the details of certain contracts, such as that with the provider of engine maintenance, but had still been working with "commitment to reaching an agreement".
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