ALITALIA COULD be in a position to join the Air France and KLM merger in May or June next year, according to chairman Giuseppe Bonomi . Since the announced merger Alitalia has made no secret of the fact that it is keen to join the grouping. But according to Airwise.com quoting Reuters, KLM has set Alitalia’s privatisation and a major improvement of its financial health as pre-conditions. Alitalia is trying to tackle its financial troubles through a crisis-busting industrial plan which could result in the airline cutting its workforce by up to 20% over the next three years if a traffic growth target is not reached, according to the report.