A plan to save Italy's national carrier Alitalia will be presented ''very soon,'' Italian Economy Minister Giulio Tremonti told parliament on Wednesday.
''I'm hoping that soon, very soon, we'll have a decision on how to proceed,'' he added.
''It is no longer time for stop-gap measures, we want a solid solution,'' he said.
Alitalia's advisor, the Intesa San Paolo bank, has been working ''very hard'' for the last two weeks and should present a ''definitive solution in two months,'' the minister said.
''The government has asked Intesa Sanpaolo to help it find solutions to relaunch the company and present a project which would allow the state to withdraw all of its (49.9%) stake''.
''We want Italy to have an efficient and productive national carrier. We need it for the good of the country's growth, to help industrial exports and for our tourism sector,'' he said.
Tremonti also told parliament that Air France had been in touch with the new government but was not taking legal action against Alitalia over the failure of their merger talks in April.
Air France-KLM withdrew its offer, which had been accepted by the Italian carrier and the Treasury but ran into the opposition of unions and the incoming center-right government.
Company Chairman Aristide Police told a meeting of the Italian Civil Aviation Authority ENAC earlier on Wednesday that the plan for Alitalia was taking shape and should be ''fully'' clear by the end of next month.
''I am certain that by the end of July we will have a detailed perspective''.
He said Intesa San Paolo was working ''very intensely'' on a sustainable industrial plan including ''the entry of fresh capital''.
Once this recapitalisation was complete the airline would look for partners to keep its international profile high, Police said.
Asked if the private Italian airline Meridiana might be one of those, Police said all potential partners were ''welcome''.
ENAC President Vito Riggio said the government's recent 300 million euro loan would be enough to keep the ailing airline in the air through 2008.
The European Union is examining the loan to see if it complies with EU rules on state aid.
