Speculation mounted that Premier Silvio Berlusconi was examining a new initiative to save Alitalia after he met informally on Tuesday with key ministers to discuss the failing carrier.
Alitalia was not on the agenda when the full cabinet met in the morning but afterwards the premier asked Cabinet Secretary Gianni Letta, his key mediator, Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti, Welfare Minister Maurizio Sacconi and Transport Minister Altero Matteoli to stay on for a discussion on Alitalia.
This was followed by a visit to the premier's office by the head of a group of Italian investors who last week withdrew their offer for Alitalia's flight operations, Piaggio chairman Roberto Colaninno.
On Monday the Italian investor consortium Compagnia Aerea Italiana(CAI)formally withdrew its bid for Alitalia's flight operations because their business plan did not win the support of all trade unions.
Colaninno said after the meeting with Berlusconi that the offer would not change.
Alitalia risks going into liquidation if an emergency solution is not found by the end of the week.
Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said later that Berlusconi could no longer attend the United Nations General Assembly this week because he was working on a solution for Alitalia.
''It's important to make every effort (to find a solution) because at the moment there is a window of opportunity which will no longer be available after the weekend,'' said Frattini.
In a related development, opposition leader Walter Veltroni sent a letter to Berlusconi to say that the government ''can and must break the stalemate'' which has brought Alitalia to the brink of collapse.
When faced with the possibility that the national carrier will fail, ''the government cannot say it has done everything possible because this is not true,'' said the former Rome mayor.
According to the leader of the Democratic Party (PD) the Italian investors who withdrew their offer for Alitalia over union opposition to their rescue plan must try to find a compromise with them.
At the same time, he added, negotiations must also be re-established with possible foreign partners to join in a rescue operation, while Alitalia's government-appointed administrator, Augusto Fantozzi, must be given a precise mandate to hammer out an acceptable accord between unions and potential buyers which would allow the airline to survive.
Meanwhile, the head of Italy's civil aviation authority ENAC said that only an emergency plan which includes cost-cutting measures will keep Alitalia from losing its operating license.
Speaking on Italian television, ENAC Chairman Vito Riggio explained that ''there are European regulations that supersede national ones and they state clearly that airlines must have enough cash on hand to cover expenses for at least a year''.
ALITALIA OPERATING ON TEMPORARY LICENCE.
He added that Alitalia was operating on a temporary license which was granted when it appeared that the airline was in the process of being sold.
However, now that the only existing offer has been withdrawn and no other has been advanced the conditions no longer existed to allow the temporary license to be confirmed, the ENAC chief said.
Riggio recalled that a six-month temporary license was granted in September because an offer presented by a group of private Italian investors appeared ''realistic and concrete''.
''Now that this plan no longer exists neither do the reasons for granting a temporary license. This unless the government-appointed administor comes up with an emergency plan to cut costs,'' the ENAC chief said.
Riggio and Fantozzi met on Monday and the ENAC chief gave Alitalia until Thursday to present a new plan.
The same day Fantozzi had issued a public invitation for bids for all or part of Alitalia's activities and gave September 30 as a deadline to present offers, after which the airline was subject to liquidation.
There was no real discrepancy between the ENAC deadline and the one set by Fantozzi, Riggio explained, because of the time needed for ENAC to examine any plan presented on Thursday.
