Alitalia will very likely have an international partner by the end of the month, Augusto Fantozzi, the state-appointed administrator of the troubled Italian airline said on Friday.
''I know there's a lot of interest in the new Alitalia by domestic as well as international airlines,'' said Fantozzi, a former finance minister tasked by the government last week to oversee the company's rescue operation.
''We've got a long road ahead, we're just at the start,'' said Fantozzi, who stressed that the expected date for the entry of an international partner was the end of September.
The revamped Alitalia foreseen by the so-called Phoenix rescue plan is expected to take off by November, Fantozzi indicated, saying that the timetable requested by the consortium of Italian investors ready to back the newco was ''reasonable''.
''Alitalia is a valuable asset even though is going through a rough patch. It's a pity that it's in this condition but if we can relaunch, it will be an asset for tourism and for the entire country,'' Fantozzi said.
Meanwhile, the bank responsible for the rescue plan denied a French newspaper report that Air France-KLM had offered to buy a 10 to 20% stake in Alitalia and to become majority stakeholder by 2013.
A statement issued by Intesa SanPaolo bank said a report by the daily La Tribune was ''completely groundless''.
Sources at Air France-KLM said the company was interested only in a minority stake.
Lufthansa and Air France-KLM are seen as frontrunners to buy stakes in a relaunched Alitalia but the Italian government has indicated that the newco should remain under Italian control.
The rescue plan for the troubled airline will involve laying off at least 3,250 workers, Labour Minister Maurizio Sacconi said on Thursday, saying this would also affect workers at Air One, which will merge with Alitalia.
The Phoenix plan for the state-controlled airline, which filed for bankruptcy procedure last week, calls for the sale of the profitable parts of Alitalia to a consortium of 16 Italian investors.
Fantozzi warned on Monday that Alitalia's liquidity could dwindle to as little as 30 million euros by the end of September, forcing him to liquidate the airline, urging the unions to wrap up negotiations with the government as speedily as possible.
Uil leader Luigi Angeletti, who heads Italy's second biggest trade union, has said that workers who will lose their jobs will have to given another.
Infrastructure Minister Altero Matteoli urged the unions to do their best to wrap up negotiations within a 10-day limit but he also assured them that the government was ready to ''make adjustments'' to take ''some of their demands into consideration''.
Under the plan, Alitalia is set to be merged with smaller private rival Air One, creating a virtual monopoly of Rome-Milan flights.
The government last week changed Italy's bankruptcy laws to allow a quick split of assets and also said anti-trust oversight would be waived.
