Shares in Italian state-owned airline Alitalia lost more than 10 per cent yesterday as a government minister was quoted as saying he might remove chief executive Giancarlo Cimoli, the architect of the carrier's rescue plan.
Alitalia's stock closed down 10.9 per cent at 77 cent, pulling back from a new low of 75 cent earlier in the day. The poor share performance follows uncertainty over the airline's industrial plan after disappointing first-quarter results and a revival of union threats to strike.
Alitalia has also declined to confirm its longstanding promise of a 2006 profit. Italy's new transport minister Alessandro Bianchi, who is part of the centre-left government elected last month, was quoted as saying Mr Cimoli's job was "necessarily one of the subjects under discussion".
The Italian state holds 49.9 percent of the airline.
"I am not fond of the formula, 'change the government, change the management', but it is clear that even this needs to be discussed because if there are things that are not working, the management should have the answers," he said.
"We know only that the accounts of this company have worsened lately and we should understand why."
Alitalia said its operating loss widened to €128.8 million in the first three months of the year as fuel costs and strikes weighed on results. Revenues fell 3.1 per cent to €965 million when measured against the same period in 2005.
The last few weeks have been bad for European airlines, mainly because of escalating jet fuel prices. Air Berlin, a German low-fare operator, had to reduce its flotation price after some buyers withheld support.
