Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s centre-right prime minister, was reported on Wednesday to have given the green light to the new owners of Alitalia to sell a minority stake to Air France-KLM, in spite of strenuous objections from some of his coalition partners who favour Lufthansa.

People close to Cai, a consortium of industrialists who bought the former state-controlled airline last month, were quoted by Italian media as saying Mr Berlusconi had no objections in a meeting with Roberto Colaninno, the head of Cai, who explained their preference for Air France-KLM.