Meridiana (Olbia) president, Marco Rigotti, has downplayed reports in the Italian press that Chinese investment firm, the Ping Yi Equity Investment Center, has expressed an interest in the carrier, just weeks after speculative reports about a possible tie-up with Qatar Airways (QR, Doha Hamad International) emerged.
"Anyone who is seriously interested in acquiring a compnay tries to make contact with the owner which, in this case, hasn't happened. I wouldn't want to give credibility to people who are only looking for exposure," he said in connection to reports the Shanghai-based fund's president, Xiaodong Zhu, had sent a letter to Francesco Pigliaru, the president of the Region of Sardinia, last month.
The struggling carrier is currently undergoing restructuring in the face of severe resistance from its labour force, which stands to lose 1,634 positions as a result.
In other news, with rival Alitalia (AZA, Rome Fiumicino) set to scale back its Italian domestic network, it has been suggested that Meridiana could partner Ryanair (FR, Dublin International) in taking up the slack.
However, in his characteristically brash fashion, CEO Michael O'Leary rejected those claims outright.
"We're not interested in partnering Meridiana. If we wanted to work with a company with high costs and heavy losses, we would have chosen Alitalia," he told Italy's ANSA Newsire. "We Irish, we're not very good at playing football, but we are good at managing airlines."
