italian airline alitalia signs financing deal with general electric rome, dec 16, spa -- italian airline alitalia said friday it had signed an eight-year, us$445 million ( 370.9 million) financing agreement with ge corporate banking europe sas,

strapped carrier, and which closed dec. 2.
state-owned alitalia has been struggling to survive amid fierce competition from european budget carriers as well as soaring fuel and labor costs.
following the announcement, alitalia shares were down less than 1 percent to 93 euro cents (us$1.12). --spa 14:04 local time 11:04 gmt nnnn