Alitalia, Italy's state-owned airline, will cease operations on October 15.

Tags: Alitalia

For the third time in nine years the Italian airline Alitalia has filed for bankruptcy. In 2008, and again in 2014 the Italian government provided a massive bailout for the floundering airline, but it may not be so lucky this time. With a stagnant Italian economy, and people already fed up with the current belt-tightening austerity measures, there's not likely to be any cash available to save the company this time.

Union members vetoed a plan to secure funding by taking an 8% pay cut and laying off 1600 employees, virtually guaranteeing that more employees – if not all of them – will end up unemployed instead. A special management committee now has 180 days to find a buyer, or liquidate the airline's assets.

Tags: Alitalia