Two more European airlines were raided by anti-trust regulators as part of a probe into possible competition law breaches on long-haul passenger flights between Europe and Japan.
Air France, which had declined to comment on Tuesday, formally confirmed that its offices had been among those visited by officials from the European Commission. The airline added that it was co-operating fully.
Industry sources said anti-trust investigators also called on the Rome headquarters of Alitalia.
Confirmation of the involvement of Alitalia and Air France means that at least four airlines have been questioned as part of the probe; Dutch carrier KLM and Germany's Lufthansa had already announced on Tuesday that they were involved.
The European Commission did not detail the suspected offences, saying only that it had "reason to believe that the companies concerned may have violated EC Treaty rules on restrictive business practices".
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