Air France-KLM gets nod to acquire Italian carrier

The board of directors at financially-troubled Alitalia agreed last week to let the airline be acquired by Air France-KLM for a total price of around $1.1 billion. If the deal goes through, Alitalia – which is a member of the SkyTeam global alliance, along with Air France, KLM, Delta, Continental,, Northwest and others – would retain its current identity. However, the acquisition still faces a variety of approvals before it is consummated, including that of the Italian government (which owns a 50 percent stake in the airline), the European Union competition regulators and Alitalia’s labor unions. The latter could be the biggest obstacle for the deal to overcome, since Alitalia’s workers are notoriously contentious – and since the acquisition would mean the loss of an estimated 1,600 jobs at the Italian carrier.