Industrial unrest hobbled Alitalia for the fifth straight day on Monday, forcing the cancellation of over 170 scheduled flights and sending shares in the Italian airline plunging more than eight percent on the Milan bourse.
Union leaders announced on Sunday they were calling off a formal strike following the government's agreement to hold a meeting on Wednesday to review CEO Giancarlo Cimoli's contested restructuring plan.
But continued informal unrest and ongoing workers' meetings forced the company to cancel 173 flights, mainly domestic, by mid afternoon on Monday.
Ground crews at Rome's Fiumicino airport who have been blocking or slowing down aircraft inspections may soon be joined by staff at Naples' Capodichino airport. The government's stake in the troubled airline company dropped to 49.9% after the European Union approved a plan for government-backed bank loans to finance last year's one-billion euro recapitalization.
The government has since argued that EU rules prevent it from from doing more, saying that continuing labour unrest is making the airline's precarious position even worse.
Labour Minister Roberto Maroni made it clear on Monday that, in his view, Alitalia would have to go under if it "it does not have the resources to make it on its own."
"My impression is that some people believe that Alitalia must survive no matter what happens and that the government is always obliged to back it. This is not true and this is not how things stand," the Northern League minister told reporters.
"No one is rooting for Alitalia to go under but no one should think that the government is willing to dole out hundreds of millions of euros," the minister said.
He also dismissed suggestions that the government sack Cimoli, stressing that he was the best man for the job. "Who can we replace him with? A great sorcerer with a magic wand? I don't think we can question Cimoli's abilities. He's a great manager and his recipe for the airline is the only one possible."
Premier Silvio Berlusconi said the strikes and disruption of service were damaging passengers' rights.
"Strikes cannot infringe on people's rights," he told a radio talk show.
But Maroni's toughly-worded statement sparked immediate protests in the centre-left opposition as well as among other cabinet members. Agriculture Minister Giovanni Alemanno, a heavyweight in the right-wing National Alliance party, told reporters in Brussels that "it would be dramatic" if Alitalia went bankrupt.
"Italy has a vocation for tourism and needs a flagship airline. Alitalia is not paying for mistakes being made today. All this is the consequence of serious managerial blunders made in the past...the solution calls for a thorough review of the restructuring plan and the government must do its bit," Alemanno said.
His view was echoed by Environment Minister Altero Matteoli, who said that talk of bankruptcy was "irresponsible."
"The government has an obligation to find a way to sort out the differences between management and the unions."
Public Function Minister Mario Baccini, of the centrist UDR party, said he would raise the issue at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, stressing that Alitalia carried the "national flag around the world, spinning off more work and opportunities for Italy."
Democratic Left Rome Mayor Walter Veltoni urged Berlusconi to take a clear stance on the issue, criticising the tendency that "sees different ministers airing their views on such a delicate matter."
Green party coordinator Paolo Cento said the strikes and labour unrest were "totally legitimate", blasting the government and some of its ministers for "damaging the national carrier."
Meanwhile, Alitalia shares plunged 8.67% on the Milan bourse on Monday, with 58 million shares changing hands. The unrest, which began at Fiumicino on Thursday, continued throughout the weekend, forcing the airline to cancel scores of flights at Rome's airport alone on Monday. For some time Alitalia has been struggling to adapt to a deregulated European civil aviation market and fend off competition from low-cost carriers like Ireland's Ryanair and Britain's Easyjet.
The unions accuse management of taking a "short-sighted" approach to saving the company, which focuses on cutting routes and staff without looking at ways to win back business.
The unions are also unhappy that the government, the airline's biggest shareholder, has not intervened.
In a statement, they said their actions were justified by the "provocative attitude of the company and the guilty silence of the government."
As well as job cuts, Alitalia' restructuring plan also involves eventually splitting the airline into two units, one dealing with flight operations and the other with ground services.
Some of Alitalia's rivals, like Ryanair and British Airways, think the Italian government has done more than it should to help the airline.
