Lufthansa, easyJet Submit Bids for Alitalia

Alitalia has received bids from seven parties interested in acquiring all or parts of the failing Italian airline.

The country’s flag carrier said the commissioners managing its extraordinary administration had received seven envelopes and will evaluate the bids.

Lufthansa said it submitted an offer, but is interested only in parts of the airline’s global network traffic and its European and Italian domestic point-to-point business.

As part of the offer Lufthansa submitted a concept for a “newly structured Alitalia with a focused business model ‘NewAlitalia’, which could develop long-term economic prospects.” It declined to make details of its offer public.

UK low cost carrier easyJet also submitted an expression of interest in certain assets of a restructured Alitalia. It too maintained the confidentiality of the bidding process and said it would provide an update when appropriate.

Alitalia entered extraordinary administration in May after years of underperformance, losing up to USD$1 million per day at one point.

The Italian government on Friday extended the deadline for final offers to acquire the airline out to April 30, 2018. It also increased the term of a EUR€600 million ($706.8 million) loan it made to Alitalia and added another €300 million on top.

Lufthansa agreed last week to acquire parts of insolvent German airline Air Berlin in a EUR€210 million ($248 million) deal.