The Italian government has approved a bridge loan for struggling airline Alitalia to keep it operational until new investors can be found. The new funding was considered necessary after the state railway failed to pull together a consortium of new investors.

Late Monday the government a short-term loan of €400 ($590) million

The government also extended until May 31 a deadline for a new solution to save the airline, which has been struggling to survive against low cost competition on short-range routes and an inadequate long-range network.

Italy received approval from the European Union for the new loan, which follows previous government credit of €900 million ($1.3 billion). Both must be repaid or be considered unfair state subsidies.

Alitalia unions have called a 24-hour strike for Dec. 13 to protest the uncertainty.