Cash Strapped Alitalia withdraws from AF/KLM Partnership

Alitalia SAI today announced that it will not renew its partnership agreement and ancillary joint ventures agreements with Air France-KLM when they come up for renewal in 2017
The agreements govern passenger services operated by the three carriers between Italy and France (and beyond), and between Italy and the Netherlands (and beyond), as well as the marketing, sales and distribution of Alitalia Cargo belly services undertaken by Air France-KLM.The original agreements were concluded with Alitalia CAI in 2009 and 2010 under very different economic circumstances, and were subsequently transferred to Alitalia SAI in January 2015.
Silvano Cassano, CEO of Alitalia, said: “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 favour the other party.
“They are undermining our ability to restructure our network and the airline effectively to achieve the long term sustainability of our business.