A bit more…

ROME (AFP) – Alitalia (Milan: AZPIa.MI – news) unions agreed a government rescue plan for the loss-making national carrier at a meeting in Rome, a spokesman for the economy ministry said.

The ministry said labour leaders had signed the plan under which current chief executive Marco Zanichelli and chairman Giuseppe Bonomi are to be replaced by state-owned railways chief Giancarlo Cimoli.

Senior ministers in the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, which holds a 62-percent stake in the airline, and nine Alitalia unions had met in Rome in a bid to agree a rescue plan for the national carrier.

The government proposals, which came hours before Alitalia’s board was due to meet, included a capital injection in the company but ruled out state aid, according to the union sources.