Alitalia calls for urgent support

Debt-laden Italian airline Alitalia has warned it needs an urgent injection of capital on top of a recent government loan in order to survive.

It was recently saved from collapse by a 300m-euro ($473m; £238.8m) government loan, which is under scrutiny to see if it breaches European state aid rules.

The collapse of a proposed takeover by Air France-KLM had left it in an "uncertain" situation, the firm said.

The carrier also unveiled a net loss of 495m euros for 2007.

This was less than the 626m-euro loss it made in 2006.

The airline, which is struggling with 1.35bn euros of net debt, said the losses were due to the rising cost of fuel, passengers being put off by industrial disputes and competition from low-cost rivals.

Italian newspaper reports suggested the Intesa Sanpaolo bank could be involved in a new bid for Alitalia.

The head of Air One, Carlo Toto, who made an earlier offer for Alitalia, could finance a new offer, along with the chief executive of scooter-maker Piaggio, Roberto Colaninno, media reports said.

Alitalia failed to complete a deal with its preferred bidder Air France-KLM after the Franco-Dutch carrier could not agree terms with Alitalia unions over plans to reduce costs and cut jobs.

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