Speaking about the ongoing due diligence that is being done on Air Malta, Alitalia chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo said: "We spoke about it only yesterday during the board meeting. We are at present looking into Air Malta's state of affairs and in summer, maybe at the board meeting before the end of June and maybe we will be in a position to take a decision.

The chairman was speaking at the Alitalia Day celebrations yesterday.

He added: "If we go on, it is a zero risk operation, maybe even minus zero. It is an investment of not even one euro for Alitalia but which can provide interesting connections to Sicily.

"Let us work; we are doing not just a due diligence on the economic level and the (Air Malta) management will have nothing to do with that of Alitalia."