British Airways keen on partnership with Alitalia

Rome/Sydney: British Airways is interested in forming a partnership with a revived Alitalia but does not want a stake in the Italian flagship, a leading Italian daily reported on Thursday.

"[Investor group] Italian Air Company's plan is satisfactory to us, it marks the start of a new era for Alitalia and, in this context, we are prepared to aim for a strategic commercial alliance," BA official Yannick Hoyles told the Corriere della Sera.

"We are not thinking about a financial investment or a minority stake," added Hoyles, BA's commercial representative for western Europe.

The Italian government has frequently mentioned BA as a possible stakeholder in the new Alitalia.

Under the plan to rescue the national flag carrier from bankruptcy, which on Monday won the backing of the airline's nine unions, a streamlined Alitalia is set to take off on November 1 with the support of a foreign airline.

Air France-KLM, which already holds a two per cent stake in Alitalia, indicated that it was considering raising that to between 10 and 20 per cent, while German rival Lufthansa reportedly wants as much as 49 per cent.

Air France-KLM chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta was in Rome on Wednesday to confirm the Franco-Dutch airline's interest in the company, while Luft-hansa's Wolfgang Mayrhuber was in the Italian capital last week.

Meanwhile, Virgin Blue Holdings Ltd, Australia's second-biggest airline, said yesterday it had delayed the launch of its new long-haul service, V Australia, by over two months due to a strike at aircraft maker Boeing.

Virgin, whose shares have been battered due to high fuel prices along with other airlines, said it will be offering alternative travel arrangements to affected clients.