Dublin // Alitalia, in which Etihad Airways owns a 49 per cent stake, is conducting due diligence on Air Malta to see if there is an opportunity “to work together”, said James Hogan, the Etihad Aviation Group president and chief executive.
“All they are doing at the moment is due diligence,” said Mr Hogan. “There’s a strong relationship between Malta and Sicily, they are discussing if there’s an opportunity to work together.”
The Italian carrier signed an initial agreement with Malta’s government in April to potentially take a 49 per cent stake in Air Malta, Times of Malta newspaper reported last month. The deal is dependent on the due diligence, and after that the two airlines will decide if they should go on.
Cramer Ball, Alitalia’s new chief executive, has been striving to turn operations around. This has led him to cut capacity on some routes, but overall there was 8 per cent growth in flights to Sardinia and Sicily, with frequency between Italy’s north and south increasing by 12 per cent.
A potential stake acquisition of Air Malta by Alitalia can help to feed traffic from Malta to Sicily, then to farther points in Europe such as Paris.
selgazzar@thenational.ae
Follow The National's Business section on Twitter
