Germany’s Lufthansa has offered €250 million to take on most of Alitalia’s fleet of aircraft and half of its staff, a source close to the matter said yesterday.

Alitalia, which has made a profit only a few times in its 70-year history, was put under special administration earlier this year after staff rejected a plan to cut jobs and salaries.

Lufthansa is one of seven companies that submitted binding offers for Alitalia by October 16.

Representatives from the German carrier, including the head of Lufthansa’s Italian airline Air Dolomiti, will meet with the three commissioners managing Alitalia tomorrow to discuss their offer, two sources said.

One of them said this was not the first meeting on the Lufthansa plan and was unlikely to yield significant progress.

According to the first source, Lufthansa offered to keep around 90-100 Alitalia planes, down from a fleet of 123.

The German carrier is not interested in Alitalia’s ground handling services and would only take up a slimmed-down version of the Italian flagship carrier, the person added, confirming details that first emerged in Italian daily Il Messaggero.

The proposal suggests taking over around 6,000 of Alitalia’s staff, compared with a current headcount of around 12,000.

The initial cash layout of €250 million could be doubled, depending on agreements reached with the government and suppliers.

Alitalia was once a symbol of Italy’s post-war economic boom but is now struggling to compete against low-cost carriers and high speed trains at home.

Rome has ruled out renationalising Alitalia, but the fate of the airline remains politically sensitive and any tough restructuring to suit a foreign investor would rankle – especially if it involved thousands of job cuts.

Apart from Lufthansa, British budget airline easyJet made an offer for “certain assets of a restructured Alitalia”.

The bidders have until April 30 to improve their bids.

US private equity fund Cerberus also expressed an interest in Alitalia.