Alitalia's flight division will be officially sold to a group of private Italian investors on December 12, the national carrier's government-appointed administrator said on Monday.
The transfer was to have taken place November 30 but Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI) needed more time to gather fund to make the first instalment payment at the contract signing, administrator August Fantozzi explained.
However, as of Monday, CAI will be responsible for Alitalia's expenses, he added.
Fantozzi also confirmed that CAI would buy Alitalia assets and assume debts for a total 1.052 billion euros and that an accord had been reached on installment payments.
A preliminary agreement saw CAI offer some 427 million euros in cash and assuming selected debts valued at 626 million euros.
The future national carrier is now expected to formally take over from the 'old' Alitalia sometime in the first half of next month, more than a month after what had originally been planned.
Italy's civil aviation authority ENAC already said last week that the launch of a new, private Italian airline to replace Alitalia could not take place on December 1 as planned.
Aside from gathering sufficient funds, CAI still needs green lights from Italy's antitrust authority and the European Union-approved monitoring trustee.
EU Transport Commissioner Antonio Tajani said on Monday that the monitoring trustee was ''at work'' and that ''as soon has we are informed of the outcome we will make it public''.
Once these have been received CAI can request an operating license from ENAC, which will entail offering guarantees that it has sufficient funds for the new carrier to operate for at least three months.
CAI also must decide which foreign airline will become its strategic partner, with Air France-KLM considered to be the front-runner.
CAI is headed by Piaggio Chairman Roberto Colaninno who brought in Piaggio CEO Rocco Sabelli to hold the same job in the new company.
CAI's other partners include Pirelli chief Marco Provera Tronchetti, the Ligresti insurance family, the Benetton family and Bellavista Caltagirone family, which through its company Acqua Marcia offers handling and maintenance services in five national airports, including Malpensa.
Another founding member is Italy's second-biggest bank, Intesa SanPaolo, which had initially drawn up a rescue plan for Alitalia for the government which later was used as the blueprint for CAI's business plan for a new national carrier.
The plan included merging Alitalia's flight operations with those of Italy's biggest private airline Air One, which is controlled by CAI founding member Carlo Toto.
