Etihad Airways may take stake in Italy’s Alitalia
Citing unnamed sources, the paper said that there had been several meetings in recent weeks between managers at both companies, including recently-appointed Alitalia chief executive Gabriele del Torchio.
Del Torchio, who is known as a turnaround specialist, was recruited earlier this year to lead the struggling Italian airline back to profitability. Neither Alitalia nor Etihad could immediately be reached for comment.
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Hide AdAlitalia, 25 per cent of which is owned by Air France-KLM, was rescued from bankruptcy in 2008 when it was bought by a consortium of bank Intesa Sanpaolo, road operator Atlantia and conglomerate IMMSI.
Alitalia and Etihad were mentioned in the context of a possible tie-up earlier this year, but Etihad said at the time there were no talks between the two beyond those on code‑sharing.