Italy’s state railway Ferrovie dello Stato picked motorway operator Atlantia as a partner to join a consortium of investors for the rescue of national carrier Alitalia, Ferrovie said on Monday. Atlantia will join Ferrovie, the finance ministry and US carrier Delta in a state-orchestrated effort to relaunch the ailing airline with an overall capital injection of around E1b. Besides Atlantia, infrastructure group Toto Holding, Lazio soccer club chairman Claudio Lotito and airline entrepreneur German Efromovich sent in non-binding proposals on Sunday to Ferrovie adviser Mediobanca to join the consortium. Atlantia is expected to take a 35-40% stake in Alitalia, meaning an investment for the Benetton family-controlled group of E300-400m. Ferrovie and the finance ministry will have an overall stake of 50% in the new company, while Delta is committed to acquiring around 10-15% of the carrier. Ferrovie will start working as soon as possible with the partners it picked to draw up a business plan and other elements of a potential offer, the company said in a statement issued after a board meeting held earlier on Monday. However, binding offers and a business plan for Alitalia might be finalised only in September, a source close to the situation told Reuters.<br/>
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Aeroflot is planning to add nine medium-haul A320 Neo Airbus planes for about $870m to its fleet next year, procurement documents show. The plan includes leasing six Airbus A320-251N for 12 years - the bidding process for which was launched on Monday - and three A321-251NX jets. Aeroflot has 367 aircraft in its fleet, including 248 medium-haul A320 and Boeing 737 jets. It currently has no new generation A320 Neo. The carrier has announced plans to increase its fleet to 520 jets by 2023, including with an order of 100 Russian-made regional Sukhoi Superjet aircraft and medium-haul MS-21 planes. The airline has not expressed any desire to order Boeing 737 Max aircrafts, which were grounded worldwide in March after a second crash. But Aeroflot’s low-cost subsidiary Pobeda is awaiting its first Boeing 737 Max in November this year. Boeing 737 is the main competitor of the A320 family.<br/>