Germany"™s Lufthansa (LHAG.DE) has offered 250 million euros ($294 million) to take on most of Alitalia"™s fleet of aircraft and half of its staff, a source close to the matter said on Tuesday.
Alitalia, which has made a profit only a few times in its 70-year history, was put under special administration earlier this year after staff rejected a plan to cut jobs and salaries.
Lufthansa is one of seven companies that submitted binding offers for Alitalia by Oct. 16.
Representatives from the German carrier, including the head of Lufthansa"™s Italian airline Air Dolomiti, will meet with the three commissioners managing Alitalia on Thursday this week to discuss their offer, two sources said.
One of them said this was not the first meeting on the Lufthansa plan and was unlikely to yield significant progress.
According to the first source, Lufthansa offered to keep around 90-100 Alitalia planes, down from a fleet of 123…
