The Italian government formally approved the move last week following a vote by its 12,000 staff against a restructuring plan, which had been negotiated with unions in March.

The loss-making airline’s board cited the “serious economic and financial situation of the company” and the “unfeasibility of finding alternative solutions”.

The Italian government has now extended a €600 million bridging loan which it hopes will allow the airline to operate for the next six months.

However, the airline, which has been 49%-owned by Etihad Airways since 2014, is now reportedly being put up for sale.

Potential buyers named in the press include Lufthansa and Qatar Airways.

Meanwhile, JG Aviation Consultancy director John Grant said that the airline’s collapse could be blamed on its “failure to adapt to the current market”.

He added that the need to do so had become particularly pertinent in the context of the march of low-cost carriers across the continent, which has revolutionised air travel.

Grant argued that while other airlines such as British Airways, Iberia and Air France had managed to change their models and high cost bases accordingly, Alitalia had failed to do so.

He added: “All the things they [European airlines] have gone through, Alitalia employees seemed to think they were immune to.

They were immune to accepting the real world.”

Grant said the airline had increasingly lost its clout in the Italian market, in which nearly 50% of capacity is now handled by LCCs.

Meanwhile, he predicted the impact of Alitalia entering administration would be minimal on the UK market, other than the potential opening up of a number of early morning Heathrow slots which the airline currently owns.