Alitalia/Etihad talks continue

Alitalia’s board elected to continue discussions with Etihad over a rescue plan involving the Gulf carrier purchasing a 49% stake in Alitalia. Alitalia was kept going by a €500 million rescue package last year, but once again faces grounding unless a deal can be struck with Etihad, as the Italian airline could run out of cash by August. The new deal involves Etihad investing more than €500 million in a plan to restructure debt and return Alitalia to profitability by 2017. Up to 2,200 job losses are also expected as part of the deal. “Etihad are inflexible on this”, said