Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) should consider its relationship with other carriers ahead of a planned tie up with Italy's Alitalia (AZA, Rome Fiumicino) the CEO of Air France (AF, Paris CDG), Alexandre de Juniac, has said. Air France-KLM, which currently hold a 7% stake in Alitalia, are also in the process of enhancing their current cooperation with Etihad from a simple codeshare deal to a revenue sharing joint venture.
Speaking at the recently concluded IATA AGM in Doha last week, de Juniac said Air France and partner KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol) would support Etihad's reported EUR600million (USD847million) investment in Alitalia with consultative talks to go ahead once Abu Dhabi's investment in the Italian carrier was signed and sealed.
"We support the investment," de Juniac told the Gulf News. "We are just waiting for the decision of Etihad to be confirmed and then we will discuss with them their plan for Alitalia."
On reception of Etihad's offer last week, Alitalia's board mandated CEO Gabriele Del Torchio to proceed with negotiations in the hopes of securing a deal, seen as a panacea to the airline's perennial funding woes.
Concerning the two biggest sticking points to the deal, that of Alitalia's EUR700million debt as well as the required laying off of 2'000+ employees, insiders told Reuters newswire that negotiations with the carrier's two largest creditors - Intesa San Paolo and Unicredit - are still ongoing while talks with trade unions are scheduled for late next week.
Analysts expect the Emiratis to leverage their proposal and force the Italian government and the carrier's trade unions to concede to their demands given that Alitalia currently has only enough cash to remain afloat until August.
