Air France aids Alitalia lift off

Alitalia had been looking for a foreign airline as a partner

Alitalia, Italy's troubled national flag-carrier, is starting a new phase of life as a private company with Air France-KLM as a minority shareholder.

Air France-KLM owns 25%, with the rest held by a group of 25 Italian investors called the Italian Air Company.

The bankrupt airline was sold in December by the Italian government in a 1.052bn-euro ($1.4bn; £950m) deal.

The new Alitalia also merges the old Alitalia's profitable assets with the much smaller Italian airline Air One.

Slimmed down

Alitalia filed for bankruptcy in August 2008, weighed down by high labour costs, strikes, surging oil prices and political interference.

The relaunch of Alitalia is the final stage in a drawn-out rescue process for the airline, which included a failed auction and a failed takeover by Air France-KLM.

The Franco-Dutch carrier is now paying 322m euros in cash and equity for a quarter stake in the new Alitalia.

"The interest in the Italian market by the other bidders, including Lufthansa, did not translate into a real offer," Alitalia chief executive Rocco Sabelli said.

The group of some 25 Italian investors includes the bosses of scooter maker Piaggio, the Pirelli tyre firm and a highway construction company.

The new Alitalia has 148 aircraft compared with 173 in the old fleet, and about 12,500 workers, down from more than the previous 23,500 combined total from the old Alitalia and Air One.