Air France CFO Philippe Calavia had sent a stinging letter of complaint to Alitalia claiming the Italian air carrier had failed to inform its French partner of key meetings aimed to reach approvals for much needed capital increases. This exchange was first reported in the Italian daily Il Messagero.

The correspondence comes after Alitalia, whose largest shareholder is Air France at 25%, had unilaterally approved during an all night shareholder meeting held last October 14 a EUR300 million capital infusion.

In a three page document, quoted by the Italian daily, Calivia said the financially beleaguered airline had not given the French air calrrier any written information as to the company's industrial as well as financial plans either before or after key board and shareholder meetings.

According to Calavia, what little information thus given them were provided 'orally and in a cryptic way' usually in Italian, according to the letter as described by the news report. Calavia said, "The information should have been passed on ahead of time to everyone, at the same time and in both languages, Italian and English."

Both Alitalia and Air France declined to comment on the news report and the letter.