Strike grounds 90 Alitalia flights
ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- Alitalia, struggling to avoid bankruptcy, canceled 90 flights Monday due to a 24-hour strike by cabin crews locked in a contractual dispute with the Italian flag carrier.
Alitalia said the canceled flights had been due to depart from main airports in Rome and Milan and that 62 of them were international.
The SULT union began the industrial action at midnight. It was the union's second strike this month and followed a four-hour work stoppage by cabin crews and ground staff on February 10 that prompted Alitalia to cancel 141 flights.
Alitalia hammered out a deal with the country's biggest unions last year over thousands of job cuts and a radical restructuring to save the state-controlled airline from collapse.
But SULT did not sign the accord, and plans another strike for March 9 as it renegotiates contracts for its members.
Alitalia is forecasting an operating loss of 100 million euros ($130m) in 2005, narrowing gaping operating losses which reached 402.5 million euros ($525m) last year.
The airline hopes to raise up to 1.2 billion euros ($1.56bn) later this year through a capital increase needed to pay off Alitalia's debts and fund its restructuring, which includes spinning off its ground services into a separate company.
