Rome (dpa) - The Italian government approved Monday a new loan of 400 million euros (443 million dollars) to keep stricken national airline Alitalia in business.

Alitalia has been under government-controlled administration since May 2017, and state loans it has since received worth 900 million euros were close to running out.

The new loan, valid for six months, should allow Alitalia administrators to continue efforts to restructure and find buyers for the airline, the government said in a statement.

The government has set numerous deadlines for interested buyers to make an offer for Alitalia, but they all passed with no results. The last one expired on November 21.

Until last month, state-controlled railway company Ferrovie dello Stato (FS) led attempts to take over Alitalia as part of a consortium.

The consortium collapsed after the withdrawal of Atlantia, an airports and motorways group controlled by the Benetton family. It also included the Italian Economy Ministry and US airline Delta.

German carrier Lufthansa has also been in talks over Alitalia, but it has said it would consider investing only after deep restructuring and job cuts.

Counting the interest due on previous loans, transport policy expert Andrea Giuricin has calculated that Alitalia has cost the Italian taxpayer at least 1.5 billion euros in the last two and a half years.

The airline last turned a profit in 2002, and losses rose in the first half of 2019. Administrators have blamed this on higher fuel prices.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) stood negative by 164 million euros, compared to a 124 million euro loss in January-June 2018.

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