December 19, 2008
Talks on a possible alliance between Air France-KLM and the consortium which bought Alitalia are set to continue for at least another two weeks, a legal source close to the matter said on Friday.
The Franco-Dutch carrier is tipped to win a battle with Lufthansa for a stake of up to 25 percent in Alitalia, which is being relaunched by the CAI consortium as a smaller, more efficient carrier.
CAI's senior executives have said they hope to propose their choice of a foreign partner to the consortium's board by the end of the year in order to have a deal in place when the airline is formally relaunched on January 13.
But the legal source said advisers to CAI and Air France-KLM were still working to resolve unspecified technicalities.
CAI has said it would favor Air France-KLM or Lufthansa over British Airways because the latter has said it is only interested in a commercial alliance, while the other two plan to buy a stake in the Italian carrier.
Italian media have said Air France-KLM is all but certain to notch up the alliance with Alitalia, helped by their long-term commercial ties.
The French carrier tried to buy Alitalia earlier this year, but the deal fell apart over union opposition. Both airlines are part of the Skyteam airline alliance.
(Reuters)
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