Etihad CEO James Hogan has warned that cost-cutting would be the major factor in the impending deal that will see Etihad take a 49% stake in Alitalia.
The deal is expected to be finalised by July 15.
Job losses and downsizing will be at the forefront of the cost-cutting measures, which follows the examples set when Etihad took equity stakes in Air Serbia and Air Seychelles.
Hogan said: “This is about restructuring and moving a business to a sustainable profitability, and if you don’t restructure you won’t survive. Within the letter I sent to Alitalia regarding our investment, there were a number of criteria that we were seeking as investors moving-forward, and one of them was obviously the manpower sizing. We’re restructuring an airline. We restructured Air Serbia. We restructured Air Seychelles. And staff came out of both those airlines.”
Hogan did not state exactly how many jobs would be lost at Alitalia, but reports suggest the number could be up to 2,200.