Italian MRO provider Atitech says it has signed a preliminary maintenance contract with state-owned ITA Airways while also submitting its bid with the state-owned airline to acquire the maintenance assets of defunct national carrier Alitalia.

The Napes-based MRO company revealed Monday (Mar. 14) that it has completed due diligence and planned to submit a binding offer to acquire the maintenance branch of Alitalia at the close of yesterday. 

If awarded, the MRO provider says the preliminary agreement with ITA Airways will be consolidated into a long-term commitment that aims to “identify services and rates inherent to the activities acquired in the tender.” ITA Airways would be a minority shareholder of the maintenance business should the acquisition be finalized.

In the event that Atitech is not awarded the tender issued by Alitalia, the company says the preliminary contract will be terminated.

Alitalia, which in October 2021 was replaced by ITA Airways, launched a tender process last year aimed at disposing of its handling and maintenance divisions as the airline winds up operations.

At the time, domestic and international investors were invited to tender for Alitalia’s maintenance business and allow ITA Airways to participate as a minority shareholder. 

"The signing of this preliminary services contract with ITA Airways is the basis on which to work for the future of the two companies,” says Atitech president Gianni Lettieri. Chief among its aims is to bring back international airline customers to Rome’s Fiumicino airport, Lettieri says. 

“The commitment will be to provide Italy with a strategic infrastructure for aircraft maintenance, from line to base maintenance, from engines to components, as it exists in the main European countries,” he adds.

Alitalia’s maintenance division had around 80 customers at the end of 2021, according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.