Pilots at Alitalia have given their consent to a rescue plan for the Italian airline after nearly 15 hours of non-stop negotiations. The pilots have agreed to a takeover by a consortium of private investors after reaching a compromise on job cuts and contracts for captains. The plan by the private investor group, Italian Air Co., calls for at least 3,000 jobs to be cut. The agreement with pilots now means that only Alitalia's flight attendants union needs to approve the deal to keep Italy's flagship carrier in business.
The investors have pledged to inject $1.4 billion into the loss-making carrier, strip away unprofitable assets and merge it with Italy's second-largest carrier, the much smaller Air One.
They also are looking for an international carrier, possibly Air France-KLM or Lufthansa, to take a minority share.
Alitalia's survival chances were boosted this week when Italy's largest labor confederation and a flight attendants union dropped their initial objections to the plan, which includes route eliminations and at least 3,000 layoffs.
Italy's civil aviation authority had threatened to yank Alitalia's license after rescue efforts stalled. Following the latest breakthroughs, officials have said the new Alitalia could be in place by mid-October.
The government had made clear that the plan was Alitalia's last chance after two failed attempts at privatizing the troubled airline in the last two years.