Alitalia secures 300m euros in new capital, reassures unions

[MILAN] Alitalia has finally secured the 300 million euros (S$517 million) it needs to keep flying over Christmas, a source said on Tuesday, concluding a drawn- out capital raising that showed how much work the airline has to convince investors it can survive.

The cash call was part of a bigger government-engineered rescue to keep Alitalia going while it searches for a new partner willing to invest in revamping its fleet and making it profitable in the longer term.

The scale of that task was illustrated by the airline's difficulty in persuading shareholders to sign up for fresh investment - many aired doubts over its proposed business plan or wanted to see a tougher rest…