Air France-KLM Chief Executive Jean-Cyril Spinetta on Monday did not rule out restarting talks to take over ailing Italian carrier Alitalia but said it would be more difficult.
"Discussions can always restart but in the current economic environment I think it's difficult... I cannot commit to my shareholders that doing this in the current economic environment could create value," Spinetta told a panel discussion at an airline conference.
Spinetta broke off talks with Alitalia in April after failing to persuade Alitalia's unions to accept his takeover offer, which included a 10 percent staff cut.
Since then Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who supported the Air France tie up, has been replaced by Silvio Berlusconi, who is pushing for Italian investors to buy Alitalia.
