Air France-KLM and Air One gave details on Monday of their rival bids for Italian carrier Alitalia.
The details came a day before the Alitalia board was set to decide which of the two contenders should be offered the Treasury's 49.9% controlling stake in the Italian airline.
Air France-KLM said it was ready to launch a take-over bid for 100% of Alitalia through a share-swap with Europe's biggest carrier.
The group also said it would buy up outstanding Alitalia convertible bonds and planned an immediate investment of 750 million euros, through a rights issue open to all Alitalia shareholders and guaranteed by Air France-KLM.
The French-Dutch carrier also said that renewing Alitalia's fleet would be a top priority and that together the three European brands ''will be able to offer clients an unparalleled international network''.
Air One, through its parent company AP Holding, confirmed that it will be offering one euro cent per Alitalia share, compared to a reported 35 cents by Air France-KLM, and that it expected Alitalia to break even by 2009 and to return to profit by 2010.
Chairman Carlo Toto added that AP Holding would invest a total of five billion euros in Alitalia, one billion to boost the company's capital and four to renew its fleet.
The Air One chief also said that an international partner would be found once the airline was back on its feet.
Toto added that turnover should increase by 3.5% a year, from the current 5.2 billion euros to 6.2 billion euros in 2012, thanks also to an increase in passengers from 31.4 million to 34.4 million.
Cost cuts would amount to 900 million euros, while together Alitalia and Air One would control 64% of the domestic market, he added.
A decision on who would be offered the Treasury's stake was to have been made last Thursday but was postponed after a split apparently developed within the government between those who believe Alitalia should become part of Europe's biggest carrier and those who want the airline to stand alone and retain its national identity.
An attempt to auction the stake failed this summer after all bidders dropped out because of the conditions imposed by the Treasury.
It was then decided that Alitalia management would negotiate the direct sale of the Treasury's stake.
Air France-KLM and Air One are the two remaining contenders from an original short list which also included German carrier Lufthansa; Aeroflot Russian Airlines; the American private equity group Texas Pacific; and a group of investors headed by former Constitutional Court justice Antonio Baldassarre.
All dropped out during the negotiation phase except the Baldassarre consortium, which the Alitalia board dropped on the grounds that it did not have the ''necessary requisites'' to present a bid.
