The directors of Alitalia have named six possible buyers for the troubled Italian national carrier.
They are Air France KLM, Aeroflot, Lufthansa, Cordata Baldassarre, TPG and AP Holding.
The directors, after their meeting this week, decided to carry out "discussions" with these six "in the shortest possible time."
Air France-KLM, fellow members with Alitalia of the SkyTeam alliance, has indicated its interest over the past couple of weeks although its ceo Jean-Cyril Spinetta has stressed that any deal or agreement had to be in the interest of his airline..
Lufthansa has also said it might be interested into over the near bankrupt carrier.
AP Holding, Aeroflot and TPG, which is also part of a consortium bidding for Iberia, were all among previous interested parties when the Italian government put most of its 49.9% stake up for sale.
However the sale process collapsed as one by one the bidders dropped out.
HRG moves into Zambia
The Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) strengthened its position in Africa with the acquisition of a partner in Zambia.
The new member of the HRG network is Travel Tech, a company founded in 1992 and based in the capital Lusaka.
It will now trade as HRG Zambia.
Among its clients are Citibank, Standard Chartered Bank, Goldman Insurance and the Norwegian and Swedish Embassies.
HRG already has partners in ten other African countries.
David Radcliffe, HRG's ceo, said: "We are committed to ensuring that we have strong operations in all key locations globally, with particular emphasis on providing added value to those clients who trade across borders and wish to consolidate their corporate travel related activities.
"HRG Zambia's national clients will also benefit from this partnership, gaining access to the expertise of the global HRG organisation and a comprehensive range of corporate travel related products, services and solutions."
* see BTE's recruitment site www.businesstraveljobs.com