Air France-KLM could wait until 2014 or 2015 before taking control of Italian airline Alitalia, in which it has held 25 percent since January 2009, La Tribune website reported on Tuesday.
Air France-KLM, which has the option to boost its stake from next January 13, wants to carry out the transaction through a share swap and would not have enough time to revive its flagging stock price between now and next year, La Tribune added.
An Air France-KLM spokeswoman declined to comment.
Air France-KLM shares are down around 12 percent this year after erasing 71 percent last year, giving it a market value of around EUR€1 billion (USD$1.25 billion).
The Franco-Dutch airline, which is 15.9 percent state-owned, wants to shed EUR&euro2 billion of both debt and operating costs over three years by cutting fleet and staff spending as it wrestles with tough competition and high fuel costs.
