Alitalia reported a decline in both passenger traffic and freight traffic in January.

Passenger traffic fell by 8.0% last month compared with January 2007, compared with a reduction of 4.5% of the seats on offer.

The Italian airline, into exclusive negotiations with Air France-KLM, said in a statement that these figures reflected a change in its marketing strategy "which aims to increase profitability rather than maintain volumes."

For freight, the decline in traffic is 3.8%, compared with a reduction of 7.6% of the capacity offered.

The chairman of Air France-KLM Jean-Cyril Spinetta is to travel to Italy next week to meet representatives of Alitalia and its unions.