Lufthansa has written to Italy's industry ministry and Italian railways Ferrovie dello Stato to say it is still interested in struggling airline Alitalia, an Italian source said on Wednesday. Ferrovie dello Stato, US airline Delta andinfrastructure group Atlantia have been discussing how to revive Alitalia for months, pushing back various previous deadlines for making a firm proposal. A binding offer is due to be presented by Oct. 15, but sources have told Reuters there is still no final accord on abid among prospective investors. A spokesman for the German carrier declined to comment on Lufthansa's letter and reiterated the airline had always said that the Italian market was important. The spokesman also said the carrier would be interested in Alitalia only once restructured, adding Lufthansa could imagine a commercial partnership with the Italian airline.<br/>
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One of Ethiopian Airlines' Boeing 767-300ERs has suffered an apparent uncontained engine failure during departure from the Senegalese capital Dakar. The aircraft – identified by the carrier as ET-AMG – experienced a "technical problem" as it conducted flight ET908 on 8 October. It had taken off from Dakar for Bamako in Mali, as part of a service which would travel onwards to Addis Ababa, but returned to the airport within 10 minutes of departure. Images of the incident released by the Dakar airport's operator show serious puncture damage in the aft section of the aircraft's right-hand Pratt & Whitney PW4000 powerplant, and firefighting foam beneath. "We apologise to our valued customers, who were on board the flight, for the inconvenience," says the carrier, adding that passengers have been rebooked on other services.<br/>