Berlusconi says Lufthansa offers 'advantages' to Alitalia

TRIESTE, Italy (AFP) - Rome will look "very favourably" on a mooted collaboration between stricken Italian carrier Alitalia and German airline Lufthansa, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Tuesday.

Lufthansa offers "numerous advantages" with regard to use of Milan's Malpensa airport in Italy's heavily-industrialised north, Berlusconi told a press conference alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the northeastern city of Trieste.

Prior to winning general elections in April, Berlusconi notably opposed an offer for the Italian government's 49.9 percent stake from Franco-Dutch carrier Air France-KLM, citing national interest.

A statement from top Berlusconi aide, Paulo Bonaiuti, stressed that "all decisions regarding eventual deals" will lie with prospective new owners the Italian Air Company (CAI).

A consortium of Italian industry figures is currently negotiating for control of an airline whose debts were this week pegged at some 2.3 billion euros (2.9 billion dollars) by the special administrator appointed to save Alitalia.

The company is also reported to be losing three million euros per day amid a nine-day-old wildcat pilot and cabin crew strike.

Opponents of Air France-KLM as suitors fear that Rome airport will benefit rather than Milan, although the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore said Tuesday that the Franco-Dutch group was favourite to acquire a 20 percent holding in Alitalia.