ALITALIA, the embattled Italian airline, passed the first milestone on its four-year road to recovery yesterday, when its first half accounts were cleared by its auditors.

The decision by Deloitte, the accountancy firm, to sign off on the accounts paves the way for Alitalia to proceed with a €1.2 billion (£834 million) fundraising that is pivotal to the carrier’s radical restructuring programme.

The accounts, which showed a first-half loss of €620 million, include the costs of a rescue plan that splits the company into two separate operations — a core flying business and a ground support service unit — and cuts the airline’s workforce by about a sixth.

The planned €1.2 billion capital increase, scheduled for early next year, is designed to keep Alitalia flying while it carries out its cost-cutting and restructuring programmes. The fundraising, which is larger than the airline’s market capitalisation, will lower the Italian Government’s stake in the flag carrier from 62 per cent to 49 per cent.

The rescue plan has already come in for fierce opposition, however, with eight European airlines accusing the Government of propping up the state carrier with illegal state aid. The airlines, which include British Airways, Germany’s Lufthansa and Iberia of Spain, have complained to the European Commission, which is looking into the rescue plan to ensure that it does not violate EU state aid rules.

A spokesman for Alitalia said yesterday that a decision on the legality of the rescue package might be delayed by the furore over comments made by Rocco Buttiglione, Italy’s European Affairs Minister, who told an EU hearing last week that homosexuality was a sin.

Shares in Alitialia jumped nearly 4 per cent in early trade yesterday before closing at €0.26, down 2 per cent.

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