Etihad Airways, the biggest single shareholder in Alitalia, is open to deepening its ties with the insolvent airline after investing about E1b in the Italian company. “Strong ties continue to exist between Alitalia and Etihad Aviation Group and we remain open to exploring all options to maintain and potentially deepen those ties for mutual benefit,” an Etihad spokesperson said about Alitalia’s bankruptcy sale process. Alitalia, which was declared insolvent May 11 after losing E205m in the first two months of the year, has started an administration process aimed at finding investors willing to invest in the carrier. About 30 airlines and private equity firms submitted non-binding expressions of interest in the Alitalia sale process, according to financial daily Il Sole 24 Ore. The carriers may include Delta, Air France-KLM Group and Etihad, while TPG and Cerberus are among the private equity firms, the newspaper said. The Italian airline has about E3b in debt and assets worth E921m. Investors can submit bids for the entire company, assets or propose a restructuring plan, according to the Alitalia tender document. <br/>