Too early for talk about Alitalia numbers -adviser

MILAN (Reuters) - A rescue plan for ailing carrier Alitalia (AZPIa.MI: Quote, Profile, Research) calls for investment of 1.4 billion euros ($2.18 billion), an Italian newspaper said on Tuesday, but the adviser drafting it said it was too early to talk about numbers.

Il Messaggero reported a plan to rescue the airline drawn up by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's adviser Bruno Ermolli envisaged the creation of a new company with at least 1.4 billion euros worth of capital.

Roberto Colaninno, chief executive of scooter maker Piaggio & C SpA (PIA.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), might contribute with an investment of around 200 million euros, asking in return for the role of chairman of the new company, the paper said.

Ermolli, who has been working for months to stitch together a rescue plan, told reporters a "full report" had been made to Berlusconi.

"But it is still too soon to talk about numbers," he said on the margins of a conference on Milan's 2015 Exposition.

The state-controlled airline is close to bankruptcy. It has been unable to find a buyer despite being up for sale for more than a year.

(Reporting by Cristina Carlevaro; editing by Sue Thomas)