MILAN, Italy, Sept 23 (AFP) - Italy's struggling flagship airline Alitalia wants to remain allied with Air France but would like to renegotiate the terms of the tie-up, company chairman Giancarlo Cimoli said Thursday.
"We want to stay with Air France, but not at the end of the table. There are aspects of our accord to renegotiate," Cimoli told the Italian parliament's transport committee.
He added that a partnership with an Italian company was "fully possible, even in the very short term."
The Alitalia boss confirmed that the company's coffers would be "practically empty" by the end of September.
Italian Transport Minister Pietro Lunardi had told Wednesday's edition of the newspaper Il Tempo that an alliance with German carrier Lufthansa would be a better deal for Alitalia.
"I think that with Air France, Alitalia would never manage to be in a relationship of equals," he said.
Alitalia directors, after working out agreements with unions, gave formal backing Monday to a four-year rescue plan for the troubled carrier that will free up a 400 million euro (486 million dollar) state-backed loan to keep the airline aloft.
Alitalia has long been interested in tying up alliances, and in July company chairman Giancarlo Cimoli said an arrangement with Air France-KLM was highly likely eventually because "we shall have to pay a penalty if we do not ally ourselves with them."
In September last year Alitalia, which already had a commercial partnership with Air France, signed agreements to begin negotiations with the Air France-KLM group once the Italian government had shed its controlling interest.
But Air France has made clear in recent months that Alitalia must first put itself on a viable financial footing.