Since Alitalia has become part of the Etihad Airways equity partnership, it is now seeking to wind down its joint venture agreements with Air France-KLM. Alitalia will not renew agreements with its previous partner when they are due for renewal in January 2017. The JVs comprises passenger services between France, Italy and the Netherlands and the marketing, sales and distribution of Alitalia’s belly capacity, currently performed by Air France-KLM.
“These agreements are no longer beneficial, either commercially or strategically, to the new Alitalia and its ambitious turnaround plan. They were negotiated when Alitalia was in a very different position, with the result that the agreements in their current forms favor the other party,” Alitalia CEO Silvano Cassano commented to media.
Cassano also stated that the airline had attempted to renegotiate the agreements with Air France-KLM but that it had been unable to agree “more equitable arrangements that benefit all the parties involved” and in the interests of transparency he has announced the airline’s intention not to renew the current agreements.