Alitalia reportedly casts net wider for partners
The Italian national carrier, Alitalia, has reportedly expanded its search for new partners to open talks with American Airlines, as well as Swissair and Air France.
“Alitalia’s aim is to link up with American Airlines, which after the collapse of talks with British Airways is looking for a European partner and which already has commercial links with Swissair,” an Alitalia spokesman is reported to have told Reuters news agency.
Alitalia is looking for partners after the collapse of a planned tie-up with KLM of the Netherlands.
KLM pulled out of the plan because of concerns over the pace of privatisation at Alitalia and because of problems with flights to Milan’s new Malpensa airport.
Swissair is looking to expand its network and earlier this year announced it was increasing its stake in the Belgian carrier, Sabena, to 85 per cent.
It is also planning to merge three French airlines it controls.
Industry experts say they expect Alitalia to choose partners before the end of next month when the company has to present its next business plan.
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