ROME: Alitalia needs a few weeks to seal a deal with Etihad which could see the Abu Dhabi airline invest €560m ($762m) in its struggling Italian peer in return for hefty job cuts, Alitalia chief executive Gabriele del Torchio said.
“I am confident ... that we will finish the agreements in a few weeks,” Del Torchio said in Rome’s Senate yesterday.
Del Torchio said Etihad, which already has stakes in Air Berlin and Aer Lingus, was proposing to invest up to €560m in Alitalia, which was kept flying by a government-engineered €500m rescue package last year.
Italy’s government is keen to find a cash-rich partner for the flag carrier, but the process has been delayed by disagreement over how to restructure the airline’s debt of around €700m, and wrangling over layoffs.
Talks with Alitalia’s banks are at an advanced stage, Del Torchio said, hours after Intesa Sanpaolo, which is both a creditor and one of the airline’s main shareholders, said it would consider selling its stake but not before 2017.
Asked whether the company hoped to be able to present a draft agreement with banks at a board meeting on Friday, Del
Torchio said: “We are working towards this.” Reuters
