I wrote a few months back about why it might be time to take out scheduled airline failure insurance (SAFI). Hopefully, some of you took my advice and when Silverjet and Zoom went under, you were able to get your money back.

Interestingly, the two big providers of SAFI in the UK – brokers Marcus Hearn and International Passenger Protection (IPP) – now no longer offer cover for flights booked through Italian flag carrier Alitalia.

Marcus Hearn stopped covering Alitalia last Friday after the Italian carrier said it may hive off some of its loss-making divisions into a separate company and place them into administration. IPP hasn’t covered Alitalia since April.

This isn’t to say that Alitalia will be grounded,. stradning passengers like the other airlines I have mentioned. Far from it – there’s talk of an Italian industry consortium rescue for the best bits of the carrier, with possible interest from some of Europe’s other carriers in a stake, including former suitor Air France-KLM and even British Airways.

But there’s something of a chicken and egg situation about SAFI. If an insurer decides, for whatever reason, to stop covering an airline with its policy, it is bound to have a negative effect on that airline. Some argue that one of the causes of Silverjet’s demise was a decision by these insurers to stop covering passengers against their failure.

If you’re travelling to Russia, you might like to note that IPP has stopped covering Airunion, the parent company of five Russian carriers, including KrasAir. The company has been having difficulties getting hold of fuel without paying for it up frnot, although the government has now guaranteed some supplies.

The bottom line is that cheap flights on a small airline are only cheap if the airline doesn’t go under before you have the chance to fly.