Troubled Italian airline Alitalia is to seek bankruptcy protection as it tries to negotiate a deal to ensure its survival.
Corrado Passera, head of the airline's financial advisers Intesa Sanpaolo, said the carrier will seek court protection from its creditors to enable it to continue operating while it undergoes a radical restructuring.
There are plans to split the airline in two, with a foreign carrier to buy a stake in a new entity.
Air France-KLM has long been interested in a deal, but earlier today it was revealed that Lufthansa is also interested in a minority share in the firm that is losing €1 million a day and has survived due to a €300m state loan.
Roberto Colaninno, head of scooter maker Piaggio, was quoted as saying by the daily La Repubblica: 'We are in touch with both Lufthansa and Air France-KLM.'
On Tuesday, Colaninno was named at the head of a new company formed to re-launch Alitalia.
'Many foreign companies have shown an interest. Air France has said it is available, but Lufthansa cannot be ruled out,' he said in separate comments published in the economic daily Il Sole-24 Ore.
'Now we will have to see which is the final choice.'
Colaninno stressed that a foreign partner 'will in any case only have a net minority' share in the new-look Italian carrier when it is launched.
Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said yesterday that under the rescue plan the company will remain Italian, as he had promised at polls in April. He had fought against Air France-KLM's earlier bids to win control of it.
