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Ryanair has until Oct. 2 to make a binding bid for all or part
of the Italian carrier, which has been put under special
administration for the second time in less than a decade.
"We will be submitting an offer for the 90 jet aircraft, with
their pilots, cabin crew, routes etc," O'Leary told journalists
at a press briefing in London.
Ryanair would operate the 90 leased planes using existing staff,
but the offer would be dependent on some redundancies, changes
to staff conditions and renegotiation of the leases, he said.
As Ryanair exclusively uses Boeing planes, Alitalia staff would
be required to maintain the 90 Airbus planes, he said. Ryanair,
which only currently operates short-haul routes, would also take
on long-haul routes under the deal, O'Leary said.
"I think one of the aspects of Alitalia that is really
attractive is the long haul fleet. There is the capacity to grow
very strongly," he said.
Ryanair would be interested in bidding for the whole of Alitalia,
which has around 120 planes, but such a deal would likely be
blocked by regulators as it would leave Ryanair in control of
over 50 percent of the Italian market, O'Leary said.
"We'd be very willing to buy Alitalia. But I suspect... given
we're the number one airline in Italy we'd be blocked under EU
competition rules," he said.
Ryanair is one of around 10 parties that has expressed an
interest in a bid for all or part of the carrier.
O'Leary said Alitalia would likely be broken up whoever buys it
and that any takeover would include competition remedies.
(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Mark Potter)
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