Italian airline Alitalia today announced it had posted an operating loss in the fourth quarter of €89 million.
Italy's national airline said its fourth-quarter operating loss before extraordinary items and taxes came in at €104 million, an improvement of €46 million compared with the same period a year earlier.
Its full-year 2004 operating loss was €402.5 million.
Alitalia said it expected that to improve in 2005 when it sees a full-year operating loss of €100 million.
State-controlled Alitalia is struggling to stave off bankruptcy in the face of increased competition from low-cost airlines and due to general overcapacity in the European market.
It wants to cuts thousands of jobs and split its operations into two companies to bring itself into profit. As of September, it employed more than 20,000 people.