Alitalia will lose its operating licence if a special administrator making a last-ditch attempt to sell the airline does not present Italy's aviation authority with a convincing new offer or cost-cutting plan by Thursday.
Following the withdrawal of an Italian rescue bid because of opposition by pilots and cabin crew, the government-appointed administrator made a last attempt on Monday to attract offers, although previous bids to find a foreign buyer have failed.
Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's spokesman Paolo Bonaiuti acknowledged that "buyers are not queueing up for Alitalia".
Flights continued as usual but the state-controlled airline faces being grounded, and its assets liquidated, if there is no last-minute decision by dissident unions to accept the job cuts and slimmed-down contracts that the CAI consortium had offered.
"Alitalia is flying with a provisional licence," the head of aviation body ENAC, Vito Riggio, told local radio ahead of talks with the airline's special administrator Augusto Fantozzi Monday morning.
He said after the meeting that Fantozzi was given until Thursday to present "a report on the company's prospects, any offers to buy it or a cost-cutting plan" in order to keep its licence.
ENAC will then have three days to evaluate the response, but Fantozzi himself told reporters: "If my report does not satisfy the authority, I will seek the suspension of the licence."
Suffering from the high fuel prices and an economic downturn that have hit the airline sector globally, Alitalia has been on the brink of collapse for years as political interference and labour unrest bled it of cash and caused it to pile up debt.
Berlusconi, who made an election vow to rescue the airline, said this weekend no foreign airline would step in and that the national airline may be doomed to bankruptcy.
NO OFFERS
Fantozzi invited offers of interest in all or part of Alitalia by Sept. 30, without its debts, via the company's website http://corporate.alitalia.com/it/Images/invito_tcm6-29762.pdf.
"The only significant offer ... was withdrawn," Fantozzi said in the statement. "Therefore, the special administrator intends to verify the existence of other interested parties."
He told daily paper Il Messagero on Sunday the tender would just "formalise what I have been doing -- without any results so far despite all my efforts -- regarding the main assets".
The only interest has been in Alitalia's heavy maintenance, cargo, handling and catering units and call centre. Fantozzi has contacted Air France, Lufthansa and British Airways, but said: "Nobody has stepped forward."
A tender for the state's 49.9 percent stake by the previous centre-left government attracted 11 bidders who all pulled out.
A second attempt led to Air France-KLM being picked as buyer but the deal met opposition by unions and Berlusconi, who was campaigning for office and said Alitalia must stay Italian.
The media mogul returned to power in May and rallied 16 investors in the CAI consortium, which finally withdrew its offer on Thursday.
The government rules out further state aid or the renationalisation of Alitalia.