Alitalia's culture of losses continues. Partners are hard to find

Network economics are a natural force for greater scale, but restrictions on market access, ownership and control are an unnatural barrier. Alliances and partnerships have evolved as the airline industry's way around such barriers.

Alitalia makes an interesting case study. It has 39 codeshare partners, is a SkyTeam member and is part of SkyTeam's immunised North Atlantic JV. It has previously participated in JVs with Air France-KLM on Italy-France and Italy-Netherlands. It has also been the recipient of minority equity investments from Air France-KLM in 2009 and Etihad in late 2014.

A year after entering administration in May-2017, Alitalia is still flying thanks to government loans that are now the subject of an EU State aid investigation.

A search for a bidder has been extended (again) to Oct-2018. Lufthansa, easyJet and Wizz Air are reportedly interested, but will want Alitalia to restructure and will not want the whole airline. Following Italy's inconclusive Mar-2018 general election, a return to state ownership is also being considered.

Alitalia has been kept aloft by partnerships in the past, but has also suffered from having too many masters (airlines and politicians). Outright ownership by another airline might have allowed it to import a more profit-focused culture.