The Meloni government did not mystery of its hostility to Air France-KLM's entry into the capital of ITAthe successor airline to Alitalia. The government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni considered that the Lufthansa group's rival proposal more credible.
First agreement between Lufthansa and ITA by mid-March
The Air France-KLM tandem, previously approached, did not renew its takeover proposal after the deadline for Italian approval expired.
According to the daily Corriere della Sera, an agreement between ITA, Lufthansa and the Italian Ministry of Finance would be signed in mid-March. And it seems that the details of this acquisition are already being worked out.
According to the daily, the Italian Treasury and Lufthansa are aiming to sign the preliminary contract for enable the German company to immediately launch the company's recovery plan. This strategy was also confirmed by the German business daily Handelsblatt. At the end of January it stated that Lufthansa is likely to pay around 300 million euros - representing almost 40% of all actions.
Buongiorno Alitalia?
More surprising: the idea put forward by Lufthansa of reviving the "Alitalia" brand. The German carrier would like to revive the airline's historic name, subject to two conditions. The first is thatITA must make a profitthe second is thatAlitalia would only be employed on intercontinental routes. The ITA name and livery would only be visible on European and domestic routes.
This strategy is reminiscent of a probable devaluation of the ITA brand. The company would then move towards becoming, at best, a "hybrid" airline, and at worst a low-cost airline. Like Eurowings for Lufthansa. Two anonymous government sources gave Corriere della Sera this information.
Experts believe that Lufthansa's entry into ITA finally makes sense. Italy is the second most important foreign market for the German carrier after the United States. The importance of the Italian market prompted Lufthansa to acquire a stake in Air Dolomiti more than 20 years ago.
Managing ITA's Italian sensitivities
However, Lufthansa will have to learn to managing a carrier whose corporate culture and geopolitical context are still very different from Germany's. First of all, there is regular intervention (and pressure) from the Italian government in the destiny of the national carrier. And the difficult balancing act between Rome-Fiumicino and Milan-Malpensa as intercontinental hubs. Finally, Lufthansa will have to manage the arrival of 39 new aircraft ordered by ITA. It will also be essential to win back the Italian market, which has been damaged for years by low-cost carriers.. It is likely that the future ITA/Lufthansa entity will also have to cede slots to the competition. In order not to strengthen its dominant position.
If the plan goes according to plan, the Lufthansa/ITA agreement is expected to be fully finalised between July and August. " I can't go into detail about the ITA transaction" commented Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti to Corriere della Sera. " But one thing is clear. I believe that this will be a major industrial operation. If it goes ahead, especially with Lufthansa, we will be the hub of reference for the South with a development perspective that goes beyond the national or European dimension" .
