April 07, 2007	Saturday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 18, 1428

MOSCOW, April 6: The Russian airline Aeroflot is to hold talks next week with Air France-KLM on a possible joint bid for the troubled Italian carrier Alitalia, the newspaper Vedomosti reported on Friday. Vedomosti quoted a source close to Aeroflot as adding that negotiations could nonetheless be complicated owing to Alitalia’s accumulated debt of one billion euros. Aeroflot surprised the airline sector last week by announcing that it would head a group in bidding for Alitalia, in which the Italian government plans to sell a stake of at least 39.9pc.—AFP