Italy’s struggling airline Alitalia is facing imminent bankruptcy, after Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ruled out a last-minute foreign rescue. Alitalia planes were flying normally today, but could be grounded as early as next week.

“As far as I can see there are no possible buyers, so, I believe, Alitalia is heading for failure,” said Berlusconi.

The writing has been on the wall since talks between the carrier and an Italian consortium collapsed with unions rejecting a plan which involved job losses. The Berlusconi government has already ruled out fstate aid, or even nationalisation, despite the blow to national pride Alitalia’s bankruptcy would bring. Alitalia’s collapse is a personal embarrassment for Berlusconi, who made the airline’s success a key plank of his election campaign.

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