UPDATE 2-Investors axe cargo, maintenance in Alitalia deal

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By Alberto Sisto

ROME, Sept 4 (Reuters) - An Italian investor group leading a rescue of Alitalia AZPIa.MI does not plan to buy the bankrupt carrier's cargo and heavy maintenance units, one of the businessmen leading the group told unions on Thursday.

The comments are the first to identify which parts of the stricken carrier are likely to be shed by the group of 16 Italian business figures looking to relaunch the airline.

Meeting unions in a bid to win backing for the rescue, Alitalia's next CEO, Rocco Sabelli, said the group had yet to decide on the fate of the call centre and informatics units, a union official at the meeting said.

But Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi said the call centre and informatics would be outsourced, along with maintenance and cargo.

Sabelli outlined plans to cut Alitalia's ageing fleet to 140 planes in 2009, before building it back up to 158 aircraft in 2013 by spending about 2 billion euros on 60 new planes.

Under the rescue plan, Milan's Linate airport will focus solely on flights on the lucrative Milan-Rome route. Fourteen new destinations will be added in Italy and 16 added to its intercontinental offerings, the union official said.

The relaunched carrier is expected to have a 55 percent share of the domestic market, up from 30 percent at present.

Alitalia filed for bankruptcy last week in the first step to set in motion the government-sponsored rescue of the flailing national carrier after a 20-month hunt for a buyer.

The carrier's powerful unions have yet to back the deal, and the commissioner overseeing Alitalia's bankruptcy gave them a one-week deadline to get on board with its latest rescue plan.

The bid by the Compagnia Aeria Italiana (CAI) expires on Sept. 30, a union official said.

Alitalia's nine unions -- which scuppered a sale of the carrier to Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA) earlier this year -- are up in arms over speculation that 7,000 jobs might be cut under the Italian investor-led rescue. That would be about 40 percent of its work force.

Sacconi said there would be 3,250 job cuts and counted an additional 2,750 workers at units that would be outsourced.

Augusto Fantozzi, the administrator overseeing Alitalia's bankruptcy process, told the unions the two sides must reach a deal by next Thursday, the union official at the meeting said.

Earlier on Thursday, the governor of the Lazio province, where Rome is located, offered to join the investor consortium by putting in 10 million euros in an effort to preserve the region's interests in any future decision on Alitalia's fate.

Piero Marazzo, the governor, told reporters that Piaggio (PIA.MI) Chief Executive Roberto Colaninno, who is leading CAI, considered the proposal "interesting" and agreed to further meetings to discuss the investment. (Writing by Deepa Babington, Editing by Elaine Hardcastle and Braden Reddall)