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Alitalia becomes Air Malta's strategic partner

Xinhua, April 28, 2016 Adjust font size:

Air Malta signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Alitalia, which will open the door for negotiations for the acquisition of a 49 percent stake in Air Malta, Maltese tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis announced on Wednesday.

The minister revealed that after months of negotiations with various airlines, the government had decided to take the discussions to the next level with Alitalia, the government's preferred strategic partner for the archipelago's national airline.

"This is one step of the process and there is still a long way to go. The signing of this MoU means that we will cease talks with other airlines and start more detailed discussions with Alitalia," said Zammit Lewis.

Alitalia's CEO Cramer Ball said: "We are on track to become a profitable entity by 2017 and we need to look and plan for the future, which is why we have decided to look closely to see whether Air Malta can fit into our strategic growth, particularly how our networks can complement each other in areas such as southern Italy."

Air Malta Chairperson Maria Micallef added the MoU was signed after in-depth discussions confirmed the natural benefit that would arise by this strategic partnership. From a technical and network point of view, the networks of Air Malta and Alitalia compliment each other.

In the meantime, talks with Air Malta unions will continue as planned, to negotiate the new collective agreements with the workers' representatives.

The tourism minister pledged "the government is committed to ensuring that the Air Malta employees have a future." Endit