Italy seeks domestic investors for Alitalia

ROME (Reuters) - The Italian government is seeking a "domestic solution" involving private investors for ailing airline Alitalia, the country's new economy minister said on Saturday.

"We are seeking a fundamentally Italian, private solution. If it does not work, we will see," Giulio Tremonti, who took office this week in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's new conservative government, told state television in an interview recorded on Saturday.

"Our commitment is for an Italian consortium," he added.

Berlusconi said last month an Italian business group plus banks and airlines -- none of whom he named -- would make a bid for the loss-making airline after a few weeks of due diligence.

An adviser to Berlusconi wrote to the state-controlled airline on Friday asking for information about its situation that could be examined by investors interested in saving it from bankruptcy.

Neither Tremonti nor Berlusconi's adviser, Bruno Ermolli, named any of the potential investors involved.

The airline, whose management met Berlusconi's right hand man Gianni Letta on Saturday, said it would study the request for more information at its next board meeting on May 13.

Alitalia bleeds more than a million euros a day.

This month it received a 300 million euro (238 million pounds) emergency loan from Romano Prodi's outgoing government in a bid to stave off bankruptcy after a takeover deal by Air France-KLM collapsed due to union opposition.