“From our point of view there are absolutely no foreclosures. The only thing is that Italy is not just a place to take demand and move it to Paris, in the sense that 60 million Italians are an interesting market”. This was stated by Transport Minister Maurizio Lupi, when asked about the hypothesis that Air France would acquire 50% of Alitalia's capital.
“Alitalia is a private company. The task of a Government is not to enter into the merits of the dialectic between private shareholders and the redistribution of quotas within Alitalia", specified the minister, adding that the Government, however, has to "reiterate whether the company is strategic or not for the country and Alitalia is a strategic company for us" and for this reason "having guarantees on how the enhancement of our hub, production levels and the possibility that Italy continues to play a development role in the airport sector are safeguarded ”. These, Lupi indicated, are the questions posed by the Government.
With Air France, the minister added, "there is a good dialogue with the French government in particular". The general plan of the airports will be together with the Tav on the table of the meeting of the minister with his French counterpart scheduled for September 26 in Paris.
