Alitalia Accepts $215M Offer

Air France-KLM, the world's biggest airline, is expected to close down Alitalia's cargo operations if its takeover bid for the ailing Italian carrier succeeds.
The Franco-Dutch airline made a 138-million euro [$215-million] offer for Alitalia over the weekend which the state-controlled Italian airline immediately accepted even though it was an 80-percent discount to its share price on Friday.
Alitalia's cargo operations are among the divisions Air France-KLM is expected to shut down, according to Italian press reports, as part of a restructuring aimed at returning the airline to an operating profit in 2011 -- its first since 1998. It also plans to cut its passenger fleet from 185 planes to 137 planes. The cargo unit, which operates five MD-11 freighters, saw volume in January fall by 3.8 percent from the previous year as the carrier slashed freight capacity by 7.6 percent.
Alitalia offers freighter service to the United States, India, China, Japan, South Korea and Africa.
18/03/08 aircargoworld, USA

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Categories: Cargo Mar 2008, Foreign Mar 2008