Alitalia Cancels 30 Flights as It Hurtles Toward Bankruptcy

Italian airline Alitalia recently cancelled 30 flights as it hurtled towards bankruptcy after a consortium dropped plans to save the flag-carrier as unions refused the lifeline over proposed layoffs. A spokeswoman said, without specifying which airports would be effected, that all the passengers will be put on other flights run by the company. She attributed the cancellations to technical reasons. According to the Telenews channel, most of the flights were either departing or headed for Milan's Linate airport. Many passengers opted to travel by train instead of other Alitalia flights, prompting the Italian rail company to run two additional trains between Rome and Milan, the ANSA news agency reported. Union officials recently rejected a deal that would have cost thousands of jobs, leading the consortium of top names in Italian industry to withdraw the USD 1.4 billion takeover offer.