Air France (AF, Paris CDG) and partner KLM Royal Dutch Airlines (KL, Amsterdam Schiphol) would consider reinvesting in Alitalia (AZA, Rome Fiumicino) so long as their preconditions for a restructuring of the struggling airline are met. The Franco-Dutch airline's chief executive, Alexandre de Juniac, told Reuters that his carrier's partnership with Alitalia remained important. "It's a partner, we've set conditions and if they are met we'll be ready to take a look," he said. Air France-KLM, which had written off the value of its 25% stake in Alitalia to zero, saw this stake fall to around 7% after it snubbed Alitalia's emergency share issue in December. Among the prerequisite conditions was a reduction in staff overheads; a move Alitalia's board wants to desperately avoid. "The target is still to save EUR128million (USD175.1million) in labour costs, which would be equivalent to 1'900 job cuts," an Alitalia spokeswoman said. "But instead of firing 1'900 people, we will make use of social security schemes... How those will be applied and what schemes will be used are still subject to discussions with unions." Alitalia is also considering a deal with Etihad Airways (EY, Abu Dhabi International) in which the Emiratis would reportedly acquire a minimum 40% stake in the carrier for EUR350million (USD478.8million). The Italian Ambassador to the UAE, Giorgio Starace, was recently quoted by ANSA newswire as saying that talks between the two carriers would "soon" be completed.