Italian airline Alitalia is suspected of fraud for failing to properly inform customers that some of its domestic flights were being operated by a Romanian subcontractor, local media reported Wednesday.
An official probe was opened after a Carpatair plane, operating on the Pisa-Rome route under Alitalia's insignia, was blown off course Saturday during landing, injuring 16 people, including two who needed surgery.
Italian prosecutors are investigating the plane's pilots, as well as Alitalia.
The company insists it broke no rules, stressing that subcontracting flights to other airlines is a common practice in the business.
In a statement, it said it has "maximum trust in the justice system, convinced that it had operated correctly."
The Alitalia-Carpatair deal was suspended after the accident. Trade unions say they had expressed repeated concerns about the Romanian airline's safety record, and accuse Alitalia of dangerous
cost-cutting.
The cash-strapped Italian airline attracted further criticism at the weekend after stripping its insignia from the stranded Carpatair plane in a ham-fisted bid to shield the company from bad publicity.