Italian Prime Minister Doubtful on Air France, Alitalia Tie-Up
07 December 2006 6:37pm
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi said in a newspaper interview he harbors many doubts about a possible tie-up between Air France KLM and Italian carrier Alitalia.“I have always supported contacts between the two groups. Now, I have a lot of doubts. I would like to know Air France’s real intentions,” Prodi said in an interview with Le Figaro newspaper published on Thursday.“Does it want to create a big European air transport group in which Italy also has its place, or simply to grab the Italian air transport market, which is big and very rich?” Prodi added.A diplomatic source said on Wednesday that Prodi would look into whether the struggling Italian airline could strike a deal with Air France KLM at an Italian-French summit in Italy on Friday.Air France KLM has long been considered a possible suitor for Alitalia, but the Franco-Dutch group has said no merger would be possible until the Italian airline showed it had turned itself around.
