Alitalia denied it was having difficulty paying its staff as the troubled airline waits to see if any new investors can save it from bankruptcy.
Comments on television by Antonello Soro, a centre-left deputy, that Italy's flagship carrier was having trouble paying salaries were "totally groundless," the company said in a statement on Monday.
Silvio Berlusconi's government could name a new chief for Alitalia this week to replace former chairman Maurizio Prato, who resigned last month after the airline's sale to Air France-KLM collapsed, union sources said on Friday.
Prato's replacement will hold both the chairman and the chief executive titles at the state-controlled airline, which is close to bankruptcy and has been unable to find a buyer despite being on the block for more than a year.
Alessandro Benetton on Monday reiterated that his family would look positively on an Italian proposal to save the company, if one emerged.
"We would look very favorably at an Italian project, you absolutely need a partner from the sector who has the technical and operating competence," he said on the margins of a conference in Milan.
"If other Italians grouped around this, we would certainly give it a good look," he added.
