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karatecatman · Guest

www.ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2009-01-06_106299863.html
Alitalia- Air France accord near
Respective boards set to meet Friday to OK partnership
(ANSA) - Rome, January 6 - Italy's now private carrier Alitalia and Air France-KLM are expected to decide on a partnership agreement on Friday, well-informed sources said on Tuesday.

Both Alitalia, which was acquired last month by the private Italian investor group Compagnia Aerea Italiana (CAI), and Air France-KLM are reported to have scheduled special board meetings for January 9, three days before the Italian national carrier will undergo its transformation from a state to a private airline.

The Italian press has reported that Air France-KLM is ready to pay 310 million euros for a 25% stake in the 'new' Alitalia, which will retain its old name.

Germany's Lufthansa, which was also in the running to be Alitalia's strategic partner, issued a statement on Tuesday to say that its position had not changed and that it still considered itself to be a candidate to join forces with Alitalia.

However, Lufthansa has apparently never made a formal offer to buy into Alitalia.

In a related development, government coalition partner the Northern League said on Monday that if Alitalia did not choose Lufthansa then slots at Milan's Malpensa airport had to be liberalised.

The regionalist party has always backed the German airline on the grounds that it would insist that Malpensa be Alitalia's main hub while Air France has been seen as preferring Rome.

Air France-KLM has always been considered to be Alitalia's natural partner and the two airlines were already allied in the international SkyTeam group.

Earlier this year Air France-KLM made an offer to buy all of Alitalia but the plan was torpedoed by the airline's unions and opposition from center-right parties, including the Northern League, which later went on to win general elections in the spring.

In August the new center-right government changed Italy's bankruptcy laws to allow Alitalia's flight operations to be spun off and sold and encouraged the creation of CAI, which was specifically set up to buy Alitalia and keep it ''Italian''.

The 'old' Alitalia's remaining assets will be sold or liquidated, including its debts of over two billion euros. Should the partnership take place, Air France-KLM will be the majority stockholder in Alitalia but will not be able to buy the rest of the Airline for a five-year period due to a lock-up clause in the CAI statue.

However, it can increase its stake in the event of a rights issue to recapitalize the airline.

Alitalia will start dumping upto 54 aircraft in its fleet as well.

iah87 · Member Joined: 17 Apr 2007 Posts: 2566

Is Alitalia still flying to BOM and DEL ? I know after the terrorist attacks at BOM, they suspended all flights.

The_Goat · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 9:34 pm Post subject:

circleglobe · Member Joined: 27 Mar 2008 Posts: 709

Suspended, yes. But would not be surprised to see AZ back in India in the next few years, more for the cargo than for the passengers.

karatecatman · Guest

Update
Alitalia has chosen Air France.