Italy’s Northern League party renewed its calls on Monday for Lufthansa to become Alitalia’s new partner and said its leader would meet Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi over the matter.
After a three month tussle for a stake of up to 25 percent, Air France-KLM appears for now to have the edge over Lufthansa despite aggressive German lobbying and overt political opposition from Rome, two sources close to the talks have said.
CAI, the group of Italian investors that bought Alitalia for EUR427 million euros last month, hopes to have a foreign partner in place when it officially relaunches the carrier with a revamped network and fewer staff on January 13, one of the sources said.
Italian media have reported that CAI has already picked Air France-KLM with a formal signing of the agreement expected this week, but both sources denied such a decision had been made.
Berlusconi has spoken for an alliance with Lufthansa, whose multi-hub model is also supported by unions and influential northern Italian politicians who hope that could save jobs at Milan’s airports.
“The Northern League believes the ideal partner for CAI should be Lufthansa, the only company able to guarantee employment, international services and two hubs — Milan’s Malpensa and Rome’s Fiumicino,” the party, which is part of Berlusconi’s government, said in a statement.
It said Umberto Bossi, leader of the Northern League, would meet him on January 7.
Newspaper La Repubblica on Monday quoted Bossi as saying an alliance with Air France-KLM would be an about-turn by Berlusconi and would anger northern Italy, where Bossi’s power base lies.
Air France-KLM has long been considered a logical partner for Alitalia, with which it shares commercial ties. Both belong to the Skyteam marketing alliance of airlines and the French carrier last year agreed to buy Alitalia before the deal collapsed over union opposition.
La Repubblica last week quoted CAI Chairman Roberto Colaninno as saying that if Alitalia left Skyteam it would have to pay a penalty of more than EUR200 million.
Milan Mayor Letizia Moratti said in a weekend newspaper interview that if Lufthansa was chosen the German carrier could absorb the penalty cost.
Plans that affect airport hubs are controversial in Italy, and Alitalia’s decision to cut back at Milan’s Malpensa set off a backlash from politicians and workers in Italy’s north.
A Lufthansa spokeswoman denied media reports that CAI would hold a conference call with Lufthansa on Monday.
“There is no such conference call scheduled for today. But that does not mean that there are no longer talks going on between CAI and Lufthansa,” she said.
