By Robin Pomeroy The Italian government scrambled Sunday to save Alitalia from collapse, with the airline warning that it might be required to cancel flights Monday because it could not secure fuel supplies.

By Simon Evans; Mark Leftly After tour operator goes into administration leaving 90,000 stranded, details emerge of attempts to secure a deal with two failing airlines Banks scuppered a proposed three-way airlines tie-up that could have salvaged the collapsed XL Leisure last month, while speculation is mounting that the failed group might already have a new owner.

By LIAM CREEDON THE collapse of XL is the latest blow to the UK air travel industry which has endured a torrid summer with a number of companies closing down.

By Martin Evans THERE is a rather depressing theme developing for this column. In February of this year I wrote that UK airlines would have a difficult year with consumer spending slowing and costs dominated by record fuel prices.

By Michael Savage Hundreds of passengers stranded in airports from Gatwick to San Diego were trying to find a way home yesterday after the collapse of the transatlantic budget airline Zoom.