Ita, Air France-KLM: “from the start-up of a new company committed to strengthening relations”

“Since the beginning of its operations, Air France – KLM, Delta and Virgin Atlantic have pledged to strengthen their relationship with Ita Airways”. This was stated to Adnkronos by a spokesman for the Franco-Dutch group who is not unbalanced on any ongoing negotiations with the Italian company. Ita Airways is looking for an industrial partner and at the beginning of February it intends to open a ‘data room’ to give access to the companies interested in entering the capital of the new Italian airline to the numbers and assets of Ita. This is an initial stage in view of the negotiations which should take place in the spring and which should be concluded by 30 June 2022. From Paris they recall the signing of the codeshare agreements that connect the networks of the three airlines through the respective hubs of Rome Fiumicino , Paris – Charles De Gaulle and Amsterdam. “In December 2021, Air France and KLM – underlines the Franco-Dutch group – signed codeshare agreements with the Italian company. The Air France – KLM group has great ambitions with Ita Airways and considers this stage as a first step towards cooperation broader, notably an integration into the broad transatlantic joint venture launched in 2020 with Delta and Virgin Atlantic. ” For Air France – KLM, he explains again, “the partnership in force has allowed a great mutual benefit for our airlines and our customers. Air France – KLM and its partners have also welcomed Ita into the Skyteam alliance”. some rumors emerged in recent days, Air France – KLM would be provisionally ahead of the German group Lufthansa in view of an alliance. During his hearing in the Transport Commission in the Chamber on 12 January, the president of Ita, Alfredo Altavilla, recalled that “ Ita Airways does not have today and will not have in 2025 with the doubling of the fleet, the dimensions and volumes that allow it to be profitable on the market alone ”. Altavilla, on that occasion, underlined the need to “integrate Ita into an alliance with conditions of equal dignity, unlike what has happened in the past, so that this is a long-term industrial solution that guarantees growth and economic results. positive ”.