World Watch
EUROPE</br></br>Alitalia Forecasts</br></br>Sharp Rebound</br></br>As Sale Nears</br></br>As Italy moves closer to privatizing Alitalia, the nation's flag carrier is apparently making significant progress on several fronts. The airline yesterday announced that it expects its earnings to be up sharply for the full year and that it plans to invest 4.3 trillion lire ($2.6 billion) over the next few years to buy 23 jetliners and update its information technology. But the most impressive figures to potential future investors have got be what the carrier, which saw third-quarter sales jump 5% and is set to be privatized within months, is doing to improve its balance sheet. It has cut debt to 15% of capital in the first half, from 89% at the end of last year, and is continuing to trim its bloated payroll. The airline's stock is also benefiting from the fact that Italy and the U.S. recently struck a preliminary deal to boost the number of flights between the two countries and free ticket prices from government control.