Etihad hardens position on Alitalia deal: sources

[ROME] Etihad Airways has toughened its stance on conditions for investing in Italy's struggling Alitalia in continuing negotiations between the airlines, sources close to the matter said.

Loss-making Alitalia was kept running by a government-engineered 500 million euro (S$865.3 million) rescue package last year, but it needs to find a cash-rich partner quickly to revamp its flight network or risk having to ground its fleet.

Abu Dhabi-based Etihad has been looking at Alitalia's books for a possible investment since the start of the year. However, the prospect of large job cuts at Alitalia and the airline's…