Why is Etihad buying 49% of a lame duck like Alitalia for $750m? « ArabianMoney

Why is Etihad buying 49% of a lame duck like Alitalia for $750m? « ArabianMoney:



"If you could consolidate the 49 per cent of Alitalia that Etihad Airways bought today for a total investment of $750 million then in terms of passenger numbers Etihad would more than double in size at the signing of a cheque. Eithad flew 11.5 million passengers last year to Alitalia’s 24 million.



You also couldn’t dispute CEO James Hogan’s conclusion that ‘the possibilities when we knit together our network with those of our existing equity partners, including Air Berlin, Air Serbia, Etihad Regional, Jet Airways, Virgin Australia, Air Seychelles and Aer Lingus, and of course our strategic codeshare partner, KLM-Air France, will provide the most compelling customer offering.’"



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